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Central American governments struggle to resettle children

Eric L. Olson

Latin American Program Associate Director Eric L. Olson is quoted in this article about the challenges of resettling unaccompanied minors who may be deported from the U.S. to Central America.

"WASHINGTON – Central American governments are not fully equipped to resettle children who return home after leaving or being deported from the United States, experts on the region say.

“The fact is they aren’t doing it and aren’t able to do it, especially in terms of guaranteeing the safety of their citizens,” Eric Olsen, associate director of the Latin America Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said.

[...]

Any U.S. government aid would best be spent on community development and addressing the unique and vastly different types of violence in communities throughout Central America, Olsen said.

“The social fabric in a lot of these communities is very weak. Usually, parental oversight of children and keeping people in line begins to break down the more you have a criminal element in that community,” he said."

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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