U.S COMMITTEE FOR REFUGEES AND IMMIGRANTS
  • LANGUAGE OPTIONS


USCRI Policy Brief – A Spotlight on Family Reunification: the Central American Minors (CAM) Program

June 7, 2022

The CAM Program was created under the Obama administration in 2014 as a response to a rise in unaccompanied children arriving to the U.S.-Mexico border. As a family reunification tool, the CAM Program allows children who are living in dangerous conditions in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador to travel to the United States as either refugees or parolees to reunify with their parents or legal guardians. CAM was created to be a “safe, legal, and orderly alternative” to enter the United States, instead of unaccompanied children making the dangerous journey on foot to the United States. This USCRI brief gives a basic overview of the program, current legal challenges, and recommendations to improve it as one pathway to address the refugee crisis in Central America.

Click here to read the full policy brief.


Related Posts

Toward a Shared Future: Advancing...

In March 2025, Kenya took a bold step toward transforming the future of refugees and host communities by launching the...

READ FULL STORY

U.S. Border Patrol Found Responsible...

In a landmark decision, a human rights body has held U.S. Border Patrol culpable for the death and torture of...

READ FULL STORY

Isolationism—What It Means for Refugees...

In the past five years, three countries in the Central Sahel—Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso—have undergone transformative political changes. All...

READ FULL STORY