Central America and Emigration: Beyond the "Root Causes"

From April to June 2019, the Notre Dame Initiative for Global Development (NDIGD), now the Pulte Institute for Global Development, an integral part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, convened an interdisciplinary group of academics, development practitioners, and government officials from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and the United States to review the existing evidence, debate approaches, and consolidate guiding principles for current and future responses to the so-called “root causes” of emigration — migrant networks; poverty and inequality; violence; and, increasingly, climate change. This meeting was the origin of what is now CARA, the Central America Research Alliance, currently based at Pulte. Going beyond the standard problem and solution approach to these issues, a consensus was reached that the root causes of emigration cannot be separated from the context of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (together, “northern Central America”) as a region of incomplete transitions to democracy given political-military agreements (Honduras), or armed conflict (Guatemala and El Salvador). In this brief, CARA partners argue that no programmatic or policy success to address root causes of emigration will be complete or sustained without increased democratic norms and practices, and inclusive social and economic models that recognize this context of transition. In other words, without systemic and structural change, the root causes of emigration will persist long after the current spike in migration has subsided. The following principles and recommendations elaborate on this conclusion to provide guidance for policy- makers, practitioners, and academics in northern Central America, Mexico, and the U.S.