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Underage human smugglers: the story behind Mexico’s “circuit children”

Activists and social workers in Juarez are working to understand underage participation in human smuggling and prevent minors from being caught up in illegal cross-border transactions. Español

By Gabriella Sanchez, Ana Lilia Galván Tovías, Fernando Loera and Carlos Zavala
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Sign for the border crossing to Ciudad Juarez; El Paso, Texas. Aidan Wakely-Mulroney/Flickr. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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My name is Ana Lilia Galván Tovías. I am a psychologist, currently studying for my master’s degree in social work. My academic focus is on the ‘niños circuito’, or circuit children, who are part of the population of migrants that reside here in Juarez, and that are involved in the constant crossings between Juarez and El Paso.

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My name is Fernando Loera, and I am a social worker. We’ve have been working with the circuit children through intervention and prevention practices, and we would like to talk to you about this population and our work.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0