Some 90,000 children are expected to arrive in the United States in 2014, fleeing escalating violence in Central America. Debate as to whether these unaccompanied minors represent a humanitarian crisis or a border security challenge has dominated headlines for months, and policymakers continue to grapple with how to respond. Join The Chicago Council’s panel of experts for a discussion of the complexity of this situation. 

• Oscar Chacón is the executive director of the National Alliance of Latin American & Caribbean Communities and the former president of the Salvadoran American National Network. A native of El Salvador, Chacón is a frequent lecturer at national and international conferences, as well as a media spokesperson on Latino immigrant issues in the United States. 
• The Honorable Michael Chertoff served as secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security from 2005 to 2009. He is currently the executive chairman and cofounder of the Chertoff Group, providing strategic counsel on a broad range of security issues. Previously, Chertoff served as a federal judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He is a member of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Immigration Task Force. 
• Maria Woltjen is the executive director of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights at the University of Chicago Law School. The Young Center serves as Child Advocate (best interests guardian ad litem) for unaccompanied immigrant children pursuant to the Trafficking Victim Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. She also does policy work at the national level on the subject of reforming the immigration system for children. 
• Tara Magner (moderator) is a program officer in the Policy Research area of US programs at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She previously served as senior counsel to US Senator Patrick Leahy, member of President Obama’s Transition Policy Working Group on Immigration, commissioner on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Immigration, and director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago.

PUBLIC PROGRAM 

Hilton Chicago Hotel
720 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60605

5:30 p.m.
Registration and cash bar reception  

6:00 p.m.
Public presentation and discussion 

7:15 p.m.
Adjournment

Members $10
Nonmembers $20

Register at http://www.thechicagocouncil.org/event/migrant-children-causes-consequences