Cancun, Q.R. — Two American minors left in Cancun by their mother have been returned to the U.S. The two girls were left behind when their mother returned to South Carolina without them.
Officers from the National Institute of Migration (INM) in Merida helped the girls return to the U.S. after they arrived at the Yucatan INM headquarters alone. According to a statement from INM, the mother and two girls arrived in Cancun in October of 2021.
The unnamed mother was hired as a domestic worker for a private home in the city. In February, the two girls, aged 13 and 16, “appeared alone at the INM headquarters in Mérida, Yucatán, to report that their mother had returned to the United States and left them at the house where she worked.”
INM officers worked with the U.S. Consulate and the Office of the Attorney for the Protection of Children and Adolescents for their return to the U.S. The two girls boarded a plane April 12 for Atlanta before heading on to South Carolina.
On April 13, authorities from the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) took custody of the minors upon their arrival at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. In their statement, the agency said “INM reveals that the two minors of American origin were abandoned in Cancun.”
