Record number of unaccompanied children picked up at US-Mexico border

Birds perch on the top of the US-Mexico border fence in Penitas, Texas (Dario Lopez-Mills/AP)

The US government picked up nearly 19,000 children travelling alone across the Mexican border in March, authorities said, the largest monthly number ever recorded and a major test for President Joe Biden as he reverses many of his predecessor’s hardline immigration tactics.

A complex mix of factors in the United States and Central America drove the increase.