Essays on Violence-Driven Migration and its Impact on Immigrants’ Origin Countries

Rampant gang-related violence in the Northern Triangle of Central America is increasingly pushing both children and adults to make the risky migration journey to the north. Simultaneously, as a result of the strengthening of U.S. immigration enforcement policies, an increasing number of Central Americans are being repatriated to their countries of origin. This dissertation presents a collection of essays that evaluate the consequences of these migration flows in the country of origin of immigrants providing evidence from El Salvador, a country with nearly one quarter of its population residing abroad and exhibiting one of the highest homicide rates in the world. Chapter 2 advances understanding on the formation, development and consequences of gangs in Central America by bringing together multi-disciplinary evidence. These studies show that gangs are the result of internal conflicts and violence, marginalization, migration, social exclusion, rapid urbanization and lack of economic opportunities for youths, which have existed in these countries for decades. Central American gangs, whose origin can be traced to the U.S. deportation of Salvadorans with a criminal background, grew in power and organization through the implementation of tough-on-crime or \textit{Mano Dura} policies. Gangs are now evidenced to adversely impact the communities they govern by hindering economic and human capital development. Chapter 3 empirically examines how recent deportations of Salvadorans with and without a criminal background impact local gangs and violent crime. This study finds that in municipalities dominated by gangs, the repatriation of Salvadorans without a criminal background leads to an increase in homicides, whereas criminal deportations lead to a reduction in violent crime. These contrasting effects are explained by three main mechanisms: most-serious criminal deportees continue contributing to gang membership and gang-related violence; less-serious criminal deportees have a positive contribution to the local labor market, which decreases their likelihood of re-offending and in turn reduces violent crime; young male non-criminal deportees are becoming the victims of violent crime as they represent the perfect target for gang recruitment. Lastly, Chapter 4 evaluates the impact of parent international migration on educational outcomes of children left behind in El Salvador. This study evidences that children with migrant parents exhibit a lower probability of attending school, where the effect is driven by older boys and girls, ages 13 to 17. Although remittances play an important role in decreasing financial constraints in Salvadoran households, they do not fully compensate for the adverse consequences of parental absence due to migration. As a result, there are labor readjustments within the household where boys are replacing school for work and girls are more prone to be inactive, likely carrying out more housework.