EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Juarez police continue looking for six underage girls from Central America who went missing from two migrant shelters in different parts of the city nearly a month ago.
Five of the minors – four from Guatemala and one from Honduras – walked off Casa YMCA in the Chaveña neighborhood south of Downtown on July 17, police said. Another Guatemalan girl left the Nohemy Alvarez Quillay shelter on July 25.
None of the girls have been located and the Crimes Against Women unit of the Chihuahua State Police is investigating the disappearances, said police spokesman Alejandro Rubalcava. All the missing young women are between the ages of 15 and 17.
Their photos have been distributed throughout the city including at migrant shelters, where authorities hope their countrymen can provide information on their whereabouts. On Wednesday, Border Report visited one such shelter, but no one knew anything about the missing teens.
The state police is actively looking for more than 120 missing women and children, according to its website.
Border Report on Thursday reached out to Casa YMCA headquarters in Mexico City, but Community Development Director Silvia Perez said she did not know that any girls were missing.
The organization runs shelters from migrant teens in Tijuana, Juarez and Piedras Negras. They provide temporary housing, food, clothing, medical and psychological screenings, and other services for unaccompanied minors from Central America that arrive at the Mexican border.
Each home is run by a married couple and, in the past, the minors were allowed to leave the premises and come back. However, due to violence and other crime factors, the girls at the Juarez shelter were not allowed to leave the home, the organization says.
The state police urges anyone either in Mexico or the United States with information about the girls to call (011-52-656) 629-3300.