U.S. immigration policy changes and children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border alone

Abstract

The number of child migrants illegally crossing the US-Mexico border reached record highs in 2019. After the federal government invoked Title 42 at the start of the pandemic, the US Border Patrol began expelling most border crossers back to Mexico. A court order, followed by a formal policy change by the Biden administration, exempted most unaccompanied child migrants from being expelled. We find this exemption resulted in significantly more unaccompanied child migrants, and the increase persisted after Title 42 ended.