This webinar will explore the complex and evolving migration patterns within Central America. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of the socio-political and economic factors driving migration throughout the region.

Our expert speakers will discuss high-level migration trends in Central America, examining key drivers such as conflict, economic instability, and climate change. Speakers will also address Costa Rica specifically, highlighting their immigration policies, the challenges it faces as a nation, and its reception of migrants from neighboring countries. The conversation will also include humanitarian perspectives, addressing the impact of migration on local communities and the responses from both governmental and non-governmental organizations. Lastly, the webinar will explore current immigration policies in the region and the impact of those policies on the United States and California specifically. 

The expert panel will include leaders from various international organizations, migration researchers, and voices working in Costa Rica. There will be time for audience Q&A.

Guest Speaker

Andrew Selee is President of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), a global nonpartisan institution that seeks to improve immigration and integration policies through fact-based research, opportunities for learning and dialogue, and the development of new ideas to address complex policy questions, a position he assumed in 2017. He also chairs MPI Europe's Administrative Council.

Dr. Selee’s research focuses on migration globally, with a special emphasis on immigration policies in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, Vanishing Frontiers: The Forces Driving Mexico and the United States Together (PublicAffairs, 2018) and What Should Think Tanks Do? A Strategic Guide to Policy Impact (Stanford University Press, 2013).

He has published opinion articles in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and Americas Quarterly, and he contributes a regular column to Mexico’s largest newspaper, El Universal. He is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, teaching courses on global migration. He has previously taught at Johns Hopkins and George Washington universities and been a visiting scholar at El Colegio de México.

Dr. Selee was a Co-Director of the Regional Migration Study Group, convened by MPI with the Wilson Center, and part of the steering committee for MPI’s Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he served on the Board of Directors of the YMCA of the USA, the nation’s largest membership organization.

Prior to joining MPI, he spent 17 years at the Woodrow Wilson Center, where he founded the Center’s Mexico Institute. He later served as the Center’s Vice President for Programs and Executive Vice President. He has also worked as a staff member in the U.S. Congress and on programs for migrant youth in Tijuana, Mexico.

He holds a PhD in policy studies from the University of Maryland; an MA in Latin American studies from the University of California, San Diego; a BA, Phi Beta Kappa, from Washington University in St. Louis; and a certificate in strategic perspectives on nonprofit management from Harvard Business School. He was selected as an Andrew Carnegie Fellow for the 2017-2018 period.

Guest Speaker

For 30 years, René Celaya has been a transformational leader in international humanitarian and development strategy and practice, furthering innovative approaches and partnerships toward impactful outcomes. Growing up in Mexico and the United States shaped his lifelong commitment to social equity and justice.

Most recently, René served for six years as Vice President for Humanitarian Programs at Sesame Workshop and as the Managing Director of the Ahlan Simsim initiative, an innovative collaboration between Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee that provided impactful early childhood development opportunities and support to families affected by conflict, crisis, and displacement across the Middle East and North Africa. Previously with CARE International, he served as Country Director for seven years in Palestine and Mozambique and also held various positions at country and regional levels in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. He was also an independent consultant on organizational strategy and performance and served as an Assistant Dean with the School for International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. René earned a master’s degree in international affairs in economic and political development from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and a bachelor’s degree in Russian and Soviet studies from Harvard College. He speaks Spanish, English, Portuguese, Russian, French, and introductory Arabic.

To register for this webinar, visit Zoom Registration Page.