Policy & Advocacy
Backgrounder on Root Causes of Migration, February 2015
Backgrounder on Root Causes of Migration, February 2015
- Since 2011 the United States experienced an unprecedented rise in unaccompanied children and family migration at the U.S.–Mexico border, driven by a “perfect storm” of interrelated root causes identified by USCCB delegations to Central America in 2013 and 2014.
- There is no single cause; multiple economic, security, and social pressures combine to push people to migrate.
Goal
- Implementing equitable trade, targeted development, stronger governance, human‑rights protections, and violence reduction aims to create living‑wage opportunities so people can choose to remain at home, thereby reducing forced migration to the United States.
Primary Push Factors
- Violence and insecurity: Widespread gang activity, drug‑trade violence, corruption, and impunity undermine citizen safety and fuel flight.
- Economic desperation: High unemployment, ruined livelihoods, and lack of living‑wage work push families to seek opportunities elsewhere.
- Education gaps: Limited access to quality education reduces youths’ economic prospects.
- Family reunification: The desire to join relatives in the United States motivates many migrants.
- Trade and structural shocks: Free trade agreements and external economic pressures have harmed local farmers and worsened labor conditions across Central America and Mexico.
USCCB Principles
- Right to remain at home: All people should be able to live in their homelands with the means to support their families; migration should be a choice, not a necessity.
- Long‑term, structural approach: Addressing root causes requires sustained efforts to reduce economic inequality between the United States and sending countries.
Policy Recommendations
- Trade policy reform: Restructure trade to promote just development by reducing harmful subsidies, tariffs, and quotas; ensure transparency in negotiations; embed labor standards; and protect the right to organize.
- Reoriented foreign assistance: Prioritize economic development, job creation, health, education, housing, and disaster risk reduction over militarized security aid through partnerships with local governments, civil society, and the private sector.
- Strengthen governance and human rights: Support democratic institutions, combat corruption and impunity, protect human and religious freedoms, and bolster civil society accountability.
- Environmental and indigenous protections: Ensure development preserves the environment and indigenous rights.
- Address external economic pressures: Mitigate destabilizing foreign debt and other international economic factors.
- Counter illicit flows and demand: Tackle drug trafficking, arms trafficking, human trafficking, and reduce domestic drug demand that fuels violence.
- Arms and aid priorities: Support arms‑control measures and prioritize peaceful development in aid programs.