The US government has announced it will cancel English lessons and football games for unaccompanied minors being held at the Mexican border.

It followed an increase in the number coming over the border, which had led to budget pressures.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement said programmes that were not "directly necessary for the protection of life and safety" would be discontinued, and that also included legal aid.

An email sent to by the Department of Health and Human Services to shelters at the border made the changes clear.

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More than 40,000 unaccompanied minors have been put into the custody of the department this year.

That was an increase of 57 per cent from the same period last year.

Many of the children are from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, and reached the US after crossing Mexico.

Carlos Holguin, a lawyer representing unaccompanied minors, said the directive would be challenged in court.

He told the Washington Post: "We’ll see them in court if they go through with it. What’s next? Drinking water? Food? Where are they going to stop?"

A national emergency was declared by Donald Trump in February amid a surge in the numbers of families and unaccompanied children from Central America arriving at the border.