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Rate of unaccompanied girls crossing into US outpaces boys

Cindy Arnson

Program Director Cynthia J. Arnson provides a comment on the proliferation of gang violence among young men in Central America.

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"But as to the question of why more girls in particular are attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, neither Pew nor the UNHCR provided any clues.

In terms of both participating in and suffering from gang violence in Central America, “by far, the largest number of victims are young men,” said Cynthia Arnson, director of the Latin America program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, an independent Washington-based research group. “But what gets overlooked is that the increase in violence against women has gone up precipitously,” she said, though she cautioned that she could only speak to the increase in violence against women in El Salvador.

An estimated 57,000 children have been detained in the U.S. in the last year alone for trying to cross the border illegally, according to government figures – a rise that has clogged understaffed immigration centers and drawn the ire of some residents of U.S. border towns."

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About the Author

Cindy Arnson

Cynthia J. Arnson

Distinguished Fellow, Latin America Program
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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