Unaccompanied Children from Central America: Circumstances Today and A Direction Forward for the U.S.

BY ISN STAFF | March 17, 2015

During the summer of 2014 the U.S. experienced an influx of unaccompanied children as well as other family members family members who came to the US-Mexico border from Central America, mainly from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.  Estimates put the number of children alone at upwards of 60,000.  Why did this happen?  Are the circumstances that caused this migration any different today?  Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden recently offered up the Obama Administration’s proposal in an op-ed in The New York Times on how U.S. can respond to the situation in the Northern Triangle that on the surface focuses on three areas: security, good tax governance, and international investment. Does this proposal respond to the plight of those marginalized by insecurity, violence, and poverty in the Northern Triangle?

Mary DeLorey, Senior Policy Consultant at National Advocacy Office of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, joined ISN executive director Christopher Kerr to offer thoughts on these questions from the perspective of the Jesuits and their ministries across the hemisphere.