NDLON and CIMITRA React to CAM Expansion Announcement

Los Angeles, CA – The National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) and the Centro de Integración Para Migrantes y Personas Trabajadoras (CIMITRA) in El Salvador reacted to the expansion of the Central American Minors (CAM) Program by the Biden Administration announced today. The program allows youths to be reunited with their parents in the United States legally.

CAM was abruptly shut down by President Trump in 2018, stranding more than 3,000 family-reunification cases already being processed. CIMITRA has been one of the few organizations helping families with their cases.

According to Mayra Machado, Immigration Coordinator at CIMITRA (Centro de Integración Para Migrantes y Personas Trabajadoras) in El Salvador:

“This is welcome news for families separated by increasingly dangerous border enforcement policies. We pledge to do our part to ensure that every single eligible family member can be reunited safely as soon as possible. I know firsthand both the pain of family separation and the joy of helping repair broken families, and I hope the media in the U.S. spends more time covering the reality of these dynamics rather than indulging in racist narratives that have dominated discussion about Central American in recent times.”

According to Pablo Alvarado, Co-Executive Director of NDLON:

“This is a necessary but insufficient step to advance equality that is currently being deprived of Central Americans both here and abroad. We urge President Biden to do much more to ensure Central American migrants are treated with the respect we deserve. We will watch closely for details about this second phase, and we will do our part to help reunify families, but we will also work to hold this administration accountable when it does less than it can, should, and must at this moment when Central American families continue to be dehumanized to an alarming degree.”

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