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6 Questions We Have About Gov. Rick Perry's Border Plan

Cindy Arnson

Program Director Cynthia Arnson provides a quote on the root causes of the immigration crisis.

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5. What will you do to encourage migrants to stay home and not attempt to make their way to the United States?

Many migrants come here fleeing gang violence in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

If the National Guard manages to block the flow of unauthorized immigrants, won't they also be stopping people who have legitimate asylum claims from seeking safe haven in the United States?

"Unless you address the root conditions that are giving rise to these flows, it's going to be very difficult to come to a stable solution," said Cynthia J. Arnson, the director of the Latin America program at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. "A lot of the people who are trying to get into the United States are simply desperate, and even if they are returned they will try and try again." 

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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