public policy program study regarding the reintegration of children back to their comunities of origen after being deported.

1. A STUDY ON IRREGULAR MIGRANTION
AND DEPORTATION OF CHILDREN IN EL
SALVADOR
Sofia Marisol Zelada
EL SALVADOR

2. PROBLEM STATEMENT
• Child deportation in El Salvador is a
prevailing problem.
• Every year at least 700 children are
deported from the USA and in transit from
Mexico.
• Children are migrating unaccompanied and
irregularly exposing their life to many
dangers
• Due to their irregular condition, children
are detained and deported back to El
Salvador, where they receive minimum
services
• After their deportation, children still hold
the idea to migrate anew.
From San Salvador to Dallas
TX. 3,094 km

3. OBJECTIVES
To identify the
major reasons
behind child
migration.
To explore the
measures
implemented in El
Salvador to support
deported children,
especially the
Return and
Reintegration
Program
To explore the
extent to which
deported children
are willing to remigrate
To suggest measures
to the improvement
of the services being
delivered to the
Salvadoran deported
children

4. OUTLINE OF THE STUDY
• Objectives,
• Problem Statement
• Significance of the
study
• Limitations
Chapter 1
Scope of the
Study
• Qualitative study
• Interviews
• Analytical
framework
Chapter 4
Methodology
• Country profile
• Migration from El
Salvador
• The problem of child
deportation
• Measures
implemented
Chapter 2
Overview of the
problem
• Results of the
interviews
• Analysis of the
Return and
Reintegration
Program
Chapter 5
Findings
• Theories of
migration, and
• Theories of
motivation
Chapter 3
Literature
Review
• Recommendations
• Final conclusion
of the thesis
Chapter 6
Conclusions

5. Push factors
a) Poverty
b) Low wages
c) Lack of job
opportunities
d) Loneliness
e) Criminal activities
Motivation
a) Existence
needs
b) Relatedness
needs
c) Growth
needs
Intervening factors
(positive and
negative)
a) Short distance
b) Available
transportation
c) Traveling dangers
d) Recurrent
deportation
e) Expenses of
traveling
Pull factors
a)Family living in the
destination country
b)Job availability
c)Higher wages
d) Safety
ANALYTICAL
FRAMEWORK
Attractiveness
+
Possibility to
success
Decision to
migrate or to
retrial

6. FINDINGS
Among the cases studied, there are many factors in the country of
destiny as in the country of origin, that combined intervene in the
child’s decision to migrate.
There was a high involvement of the child’s family in their
migration process.
There is a high probability that children will try to migrate again.
Interviewed children whose parent financially supported their
migration decision were more motivated to re-migrate than those
who did not received any economic support from their parents.

7. FINDINGS
The program does not provide individual services to address the
real needs of every child, on the contrary, services are provided
as ‘one size fits all’.
Efforts were made to favor immediate incorporation instead of a
long-term reintegration..
Services are only provided to children deported from the United
States, however the biggest number of children are those
deported from Mexico.
The program does not provide individual services to address the
real needs of every child, on the contrary, services are provided
as ‘one size fits all’.

8. RECOMMENDATIONS
The implementation of a Co-production approach
to reintegrate children, taking into consideration
the community, the family and the child’s needs
Flexibility of the reintegration program by treating
every case individually with multiple options
available
Dissemination of
information regarding
the dangers of
migrating and the
services provided to
deported children
Assistance should be
provided in four stages:
pre-departure stage,
transportation stage,
immediate arrival stage
and the post arrival stage
All children should be
included as the program’s
targeted population
without consideration of
their status or their
country of deportation.
To guarantee basic
education, to provide
children with an essential
foundation for further
education and trainings