White House Says Number Of Kids Crossing Border Decreased Sharply

In this July 12, 2014, photo, Central American migrants ride a freight train during their journey toward the U.S.-Mexico border in Ixtepec, Mexico. The number of family units and unaccompanied children arrested by Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley has doubled in the first nine months of this fiscal year compared to the same period last year. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

PHOENIX — The White House announced yesterday that the number of unaccompanied children crossing the border from Central America has decreased significantly.

According to Fox Latino News, from the average of about 150 children apprehended along the Rio Grande border in the first two weeks of July, to now an average of 355 per day in June.

President Barack Obama will meet Friday with presidents of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, the three countries where these children are home to. 

The U.S. has been urging their governments to take steps to stem the exodus of children and warning that the U.S. will take steps to send them back promptly.

The reason for this decline in numbers is still unknown. The efforts, however, by the Obama administration to get the message to people in Central America that risking the dangerous illegal trip to the United States would likely end in deportation was dissuading many from coming.