Latin American Ambassadors Will Participate in Panel on Unaccompanied Children Immigration Crisis

On Monday, Sept. 29, the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs at the Maxwell School will host a panel discussion titled “Confronting the Unaccompanied Children Immigration Crisis: Perspectives from Central America, Mexico and the United States.”

The event will take place at 12:30 p.m. in 220 Eggers Hall. It is sponsored by the Program on Latin America and the Caribbean at the Moynihan Institute and by the Migration Policy Institute.

Rafael Fernandez de Castro

Panelists will include:  Francisco Altschul, ambassador of El Salvador to the U.S.; Julio Ligorría, ambassador of Guatemala to the U.S.; Marc Rosenblum, deputy director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute; and Rafael Fernández de Castro, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in U.S.-Mexico Affairs at the Maxwell School.  James Steinberg, dean of the Maxwell School, will serve as moderator.

The panelists’ discussion will focus on the recent surge of unaccompanied children from Central America seeking entrance to the United States to escape violence and poverty in their home countries.  The result has been a crisis on multiple fronts, which is further complicated by the cross-border nature of the phenomenon. The panel will bring together experts from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and the United States to discuss the medium- and long-term solutions to this problem, as well as to explore each country’s perspectives and identify potential areas for cooperation.