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Latin American Program in the News: U.S. Flying Deportees Deep into Mexico to Avoid Dangerous Border

Eric L. Olson

Eric Olson is quoted in this article on the U.S. immigration authorities flying some deportees into Mexico City rather than dangerous border towns.

[...]

"The flights will continue to the end of the year on a twice-weekly basis but could be increased, officials said, particularly if they are effective in discouraging reentry.

Although the flights represent an added cost for ICE, expanded cooperation on immigration issues with Mexican authorities could bring the agency significant long-term savings.

 

Illegal immigration to the United States is at its lowest levels since the early 1970s, but Central American migrants represent a larger share than ever of illegal border-crossers. A portion of the $2 billion U.S. security aid package to Mexico, the Merida Initiative, is helping provide training and technology for customs agents and border guards in southern Mexico.

But Mexico has its own interests in firming up its porous southern border, analysts say.

“Mexico isn’t only doing this because of some calculus with the United States,” said Eric Olson, a Central America scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. “It has legitimate concerns that the southern border is a vulnerability.”"

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For the full aricle, originally published by The Washington Post, 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

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