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Illegal immigrant children surge across border at highest rate since last summer’s peak

Eric L. Olson

Eric Olson, Associate Director of the Latin American Program, is quoted on the factors causing surges of illegal immigration into the United States.

[...]

Eric L. Olson, who studies Latin America for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, insisted that violence in Central American countries is the major factor pushing people out of their homes and sending them north. He said his travels to the region suggest that many families face difficult choices: try to work out an agreement with gangs to leave them alone, watch their children either join or be targeted by the gangs, or flee. “It’s not surprising that many decide to flee,” he said. [...] To read the full article, click here.

About the Author

Eric L. Olson

Eric L. Olson

Global Fellow;
Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives, Seattle International Foundation
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Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more