New research focusing on underage Mexican immigrants trying to cross the border illegally into the United States shows these minors do n't put aside their American dream easily , even if caught multiple times by immigration authorities . According to a new report published by the Pew Research Center , out of 11,000 Mexican minors who tried to cross the border illegally between last October 1 and May 31 , `` only 2,700 children ( 24 % of all the apprehensions ) reported being apprehended for the first time in their lives . '' This means that more than three-quarters of the children have been caught trying to cross the border illegally more than once . According to the report , 15 % of these would-be migrants had been detained by immigration authorities and deported at least six times . Mark Hugo Lopez , Director of Hispanic Research at the Pew Research Center , said his team started analyzing the data with no preconceived notions . `` We had no sense of how many times young people from Mexico had tried to cross the border , '' Lopez said . `` In conversations with officials at the Mexican embassy we found out they had very specific data about the minors apprehended by immigration authorities , information that they have been collecting . '' The data from Mexican officials was then checked against data collected by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and researchers found there was correlation . U.S. immigration authorities notify Mexican consular officials of apprehensions per agreements between the two nations . When it comes to reasons why these children are choosing to leave home , Lopez said poverty and increased violence are the two main factors . `` Most of these young children are coming from border states , particularly Tamaulipas ( south of Texas ) which accounts for more than one quarter ( 3,077 ) of all those apprehended , '' Lopez said . Other Mexican states with large number of migrant children are Sonora , which is south of Arizona , 1,160 ; Oaxaca , 884 ; Guerrero , 750 : Guanajuato , 716 ; and Michoacán , 645 . Tamaulipas has been plagued by violence over the last few years as two rival Mexican criminal organizations battle for territory . Michoacán saw an increase in violence over the last year as groups of vigilantes took up arms to drive away a drug cartel . Unlike Central American children , Mexican minors are deported almost immediately . A 2008 human trafficking law requires migrant children to be processed by the Department of Health and Human Services ' Office of Refugee Resettlement ( ORR ) . But the law does n't apply to minors from the two U.S. neighbors to the north and south , Canada and Mexico . Lopez said there are also demographic differences between Central Americans and Mexicans . `` Central Americans are traveling a long distance , so crossing a second time is not very easy . Another big difference is that most Mexican underage migrants are males in their late teens , whereas Central Americans come in all ages , some younger than 12 , and the number of girls tends to be higher , '' he said .
A Pew Center report looked at attempted illegal border crossings by Mexican minors . The report counted 11,000 who tried to cross between October 1 and May 31 . Fifteen percent of those minors had been caught and deported at least six times . Comment: