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You're watching UNICEF Television.

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Hundreds of people die each year trying to illegally cross from Mexico into the United States.

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Many of them are women and children who run out of water in the middle of the desert.

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An hour and a half south of the border lies Altar, Mexico.

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It's where most migrants find a smuggler, known as a coyote, to help them navigate the desert.

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A never-ending stream of buses into Altar drops migrants at the town square.

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They sit and wait to be approached by a coyote.

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On the far side of the square, a line of vans waits to ferry migrants to the border,

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where they will begin their dangerous three-day journey.

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This 18-year-old, who we'll call Enrique, is paying a coyote $2,500,

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which a relative in the United States is lending him.

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Like many migrants, Enrique has grown tired of living on less than $3 a day

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and is willing to face the dangers lurking in the desert.

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Yes, I am afraid because I have been told that many people die in the desert, Enrique says,

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but to try to be in the U.S., I will do my very best to get there.

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With increased security on the border,

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migrants are now trying to cross in more remote areas of the desert,

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sometimes with only two gallons of water, not nearly enough.

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Hundreds of thousands are caught by the authorities every year.

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Most of the adults are simply dropped off back on the Mexican side of the border.

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The children are sent to repatriation centers,

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where they wait to be picked up by a relative.

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UNICEF partner, Colegio de la Frontera Norte,

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works with the Mexican government to ensure that the children are safe

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and given access to health and legal services.

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They also discourage the children from attempting another crossing.

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There are important dangers that children need to know about, he says.

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It is possible for them to become the victims of thieves, rapists, sex traffickers,

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and, in some cases, people who want to sell their organs.

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The night before Enrique left Altar with a Coyote,

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a journalist passed along his cell phone number, with instructions to call him.

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Several days later, the phone rang.

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Enrique was on a payphone at a gas station in a large U.S. city.

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He said they traveled three days across the desert and they were robbed along the way,

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but they made it out alive.

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They were among the fortunate ones.

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This is Thomas Naibo reporting for UNICEF in Altar, Mexico.

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Unite for Children.