The Odyssey of Salvadoran Asylum Seekers
Coutin, Susan
Irma Martinez and her family were elated when they learned that, in 1997, the U.S. Congress had passed a law exempting certain Salvadorans and Guatemalans from the restrictive immigration...
...After the AFL-CIO reversed its position and began supporting legalization legislation in 2000, there was a strong push to pass the Latino and Immigrant Fairness Act (LIFA...
...Government Printing Office, 1989...
...F61ix Dubin left El Salvador in 1989 for two reasons: "One was that the situation in El Salvador was bad...
...Congress approved the 1990 Immigration Act, which awarded 18 months of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Salvadorans...
...3 Civilians found it difficult to determine what actions, relationships or connections might make them targets of repression...
...Some 187,000 Salvadorans registered for this benefit...
...Growth in maquiladora plants that assemble goods for export contribute to emigration by displacing workers from other occupations while only providing transitory employment...
...And the other reason was that I wanted to meet my sisters...
...In November 1989, the guerrilla forces launched a "final offensive" designed to provoke a national insurrection, or at least demonstrate the FMLN's military strength...
...LIFA would have granted legal permanent residency to immigrants who had been in the United States since 1986, permitted beneficiaries of family visa petitions to remain in the United States while the petition was pending and created parity among NACARA beneficiaries...
...government offered to settle the ABC lawsuit out of court...
...Salvadoran officials estimate that nearly one-fourth of Salvadorans live in the United States...
...The extraordinary policy making process that produced NACARA is evidence that through coalitions and with changing conditions, proposals that once seemed almost unthinkable can indeed become law...
...And many Salvadorans Moreover, a cap of 4,000 was placed on the number of simply wanted to wait and see whether peace would last...
...ABC class action lawsuit...
...Javier L6pez, who has lived in the United States for sixteen years, described how his children in El Salvador anxiously awaited the outcome of his NACARA case so they could join him: "I'd call them by phone and they'd say to me, 'When are you going to get your papers?' And I'd tell them, 'I'm waiting...
...Through allies in the U.S...
...immigration officials, facing a huge backlog in asy- Salvadoran and Guatemalan ABC class members the lum petitions, put ABC class members' cases on hold...
...Given the devastation wrought by political violence, it is difficult to disentangle economic, political and familial motives for migrating...
...Soldiers set up roadblocks, boarded buses and otherwise subjected the population to intrusive surveillance...
...govemment...
...Outraged by the disparity between Nicaraguan, Salvadoran and Guatemalan NACARA beneficiaries, advocates and Salvadoran authorities pressured the Clinton administration for equitable treatment...
...As advocates sought to change U.S...
...549-571...
...The differential treatment likely stemmed from the vastly different governmental relations between Washington and the three nations...
...Now it's the professionals...
...22, No...
...concerned with the destabilizing effects that would result Although Salvadorans were undergoing a transition from deportations also lobbied for a remedy...
...By 1992, 75,000 people were dead and 25% of the Salvadoran population had been displaced...
...Committee for Refugees, Despite a Generous Spirit: Denying Asylum in the United States (Washington, D.C.: American Council for Nationalities Service, 1986), p. 9. 6. Susan Bibler Coutin, "Smugglers or Samaritans in Tucson, Arizona: Producing and Contesting Legal Truth," American Ethnologist, Vol...
...This pressure generated an unprecedented set of regulations...
...policies, immigration from El Salvador to the United States continued...
...Also see Ross Gelbspan, Break-ins, Death Threats and the FBI: The Covert War against the Central America Movement (Boston: South End Press, 1991...
...Asylum officials, who normally only hear asylum claims, were granted authority to adjudicate NACARA suspension cases, thus streamlining the application process...
...8. Salvadorans who fled during the war years, but who did not apply for TPS or asylum and who therefore are ineligible for NACARA, may have legalized through the 1986 "amnesty" program, a family visa petition or employment-based visas...
...citizen or travel outside of the United Salvadorans and Guatemalans-including most of the States without permission from U.S...
...Although political violence has diminished, criminal violence is wreaking havoc in El Salvador...
...When El Salvador was still being rocked by aftershocks from the January and February 2001 earthquakes, a worried government official commented, "Before, it was the campesino who migrated, then the factory worker...
...In response, these groups went underground and, in 1980, formed the leftist guerrilla organization Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN...
...sites of those traumatic events...
...Some 240,000 naturalized U.S...
...Although LIFA was defeated, the push for a broad-based legalization program continued until hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field on September 11, 2001...
...tmigrds also found that they had become accustomed to In 1997, Central American advocates launched a new life in the United States, with many having children who campaign to win legal permanent residency for ABC were U.S...
...And, most significantly, the regulations explicitly presumed that ABC class members would suffer hardship if deported, though immigration officials retained the right to rebut this presumption in particular cases...
...This alliance made possible the passage of the implementation of the peace accords, it became increas- Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief ingly difficult for Salvadorans to win political asylum...
...he late 1980s and early 1990s were watershed years for Salvadoran 6migr6s...
...tion, known as "cancellation of removal," was created...
...Although NACARA was a boon for ABC class members, delays in processing NACARA claims have frustrated many applicants...
...To receive cancellation, applieager to return...
...NACARA gave U.S...
...The settlement gave Vol XXXVII, No 6 MAY/JUNE 200439 Vol XXXVII, No 6 MAY/JUNE 2004 39REPORT ON NICARAGUA AND EL SALVADOR Salvadorans and Guatemalans the right to apply, or reap- relatives to the United States, accrue the five years of ply, for political asylum under special rules designed to permanent residency that confer eligibility to become a ensure fair consideration of their claims...
...Following these earthquakes, U.S...
...3, 1995, pp...
...6 In response to the Tucson indictments, sanctuary activists filed a class action suit against the U.S...
...For Nicaraguans living in the United ABC class members could not petition for visas to bring States since December 1, 1995, the law permitted them 40 NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICASREPORT ON NICARAGUA AND EL SALVADOR to adjust their status to that of legal permanent resident...
...members had already spent in the United States...
...immigration offiTPS recipients -eventually applied for asylum under the cials...
...I was playing in an empty house in a construction area and I fell down and found a hand...
...According to El Salvador's Central Reserve Bank, migrants abroad sent an estimated $2.1 billion--14% of the country's gross domestic product-to their relatives in 2003.9 Broader immigration reforms that would benefit recent immigrants have gained more momentum lately...
...Such experiences were not unusual...
...Together, these laws stiffened border enforcement, expanded the range of criminal convictions that made non-citizens deportable and made it more difficult for undocumented immigrants to acquire legal permanent residency...
...3. Tommie Sue Montgomery, Revolution in El Salvador: From Civil Strife to Civil Peace (Boulder, Co:Westview Press, 1995), p. 243...
...The peace accords created unexpected dilemmas for Advocates pinned their hopes on "suspension of deporSalvadoran dmigl6s...
...When Irma arrived in the United States she reunited with two older siblings and members of her extended family...
...Because the U.S...
...Then, in 1992, came the sign- To prevent mass deportations, Central American advoing of the peace accords, officially ending the cates sought recognition of the length of time ABC class Salvadoran civil war...
...The assassinations provoked widespread condemnation, increasing pressure for a negotiated solution to the conflict...
...Suspension of deportation was eliminated and a new form of legaliza- Daisy Funes and her son Fidel, refugees from El Salvador in Detroit, Michigan in eliminated and a new form of legaliza1984...
...5. U.S...
...As Irma's father explained, "The situation in El Salvador was worsening, and we couldn't stand the separation any longer...
...President Bush's temporary worker proposal suggests that it may now be possible to rekindle debate on these issues...
...Senate, The FBI and CISPES, (Washington, D.C.: U.S...
...Following the terrorist attacks, the immigrant legalization issue disappeared from the political radar until President George W Bush's January 2004 proposal for a temporary worker program...
...Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the FBI investigated groups that opposed U.S...
...The suit, which came to be known as "American Baptist Churches v. Thomburgh" or simply "ABC," sought a prohibition on future sanctuary prosecutions, an end to discriminating against asylum seekers due to foreign policy considerations, and a finding that Salvadorans and Guatemalans were entitled to safe haven...
...Of these, 87,516 had been adjudicated...
...But the mid-1990s were a difficult time to advocate for any immigration rights, given the economic recession and strong anti-immigrant sentiment...
...Congress, these groups repeatedly proposed legislation--known as "Moakley-Deconcini," after its sponsors-that would grant some form of temporary safe haven to Salvadoran 6migr6s...
...It appears that NACARA will eventually resolve the situation of many who fled to the United States during the Salvadoran civil war, but it does not address the situation of Salvadoran immigrants that left in the post-war era...
...I don't know, but any day they will arrive...
...Committee for Refugees, 97% of Salvadorans who applied for political asylum between 1983 and 1986 were rejected, while applicants from Iran, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, Poland and Hungary--all ruled by non-friendly regimes--were approved at rates ranging from 32% to 60%.5 In response to U.S...
...Those who had ence rather than seven, and prove "extreme and excepsuffered personal tragedies were reluctant to return to the tional hardship" rather than "extreme hardship...
...4 More than one million of those displaced went to the United States, mostly without visas...
...According to the U.S...
...policies, Central American refugees founded committees to support popular movements in their native countries, U.S...
...the way in which they were killed...
...This growth and stability has, however, been achieved in part through the massive influx of migrant remittances...
...They had grown up in the United States and I had never seen them...
...Sanctuary congregations were subject to mysterious break-ins in which files were stolen, but valuable office equipment was left undisturbed...
...And you know, by just looking at them all destroyed, you know, all tom up in pieces because they were cut by machetes and all that other stuff...
...2 Meanwhile, opposition groups and others endured arrests, assassinations and massacres...
...4. Hugh Byrne, El Salvador ' Civil War: A Study ofRevolution, p. 210...
...1, 2004, <http://www.bcr.gob.sv/publicaciones/comunicados.html...
...Carlos Pineda came to the United States to avoid forcible recruitment, but his mother had already emigrated to support her family...
...Additionally, natural disasters have spurred migration...
...Hopes that susthat Salvadorans were only coming to the United States pension would solve ABC class members' immigration to escape the civil war, but when the war ended few were situation were dashed...
...With the passage of time and the IIRIRA...
...After a six-month $6 million trial, eight of the 11 accused sanctuary workers were convicted...
...THE ODYSSEY OF SALVADORAN ASYLUM SEEKERS 1. The names of immigrants in this article have been changed to protect their identity...
...Inna hoped the new law would resolve their uncertain future...
...At the very least, such migrants would have been eligible for the 2001 post-earthquake TPS that was granted to Salvadorans...
...When they arrived, Salvadoran migrants such as Irma Martinez and Carlos Pineda met with a chilly reception...
...7. Interview with author, March 1, 2004...
...Combatants from both sides confiscated food and supplies, and men and boys risked forcible recruitment...
...Congress had passed a law exempting certain Salvadorans and Guatemalans from the restrictive immigration policies adopted the year before...
...The delays can be devastating for migrants...
...government...
...Carlos Pineda, who fled to the United States in 1982 when he was 11, recalls, "I had seen so many dead people and everything...
...While waiting, ABC class members also have to renew their work permits annually at a cost of $120 per person...
...There was a man hanging, whose skin had been removed...
...Act (NACARA) in November 1997...
...The years preceding the war were characterized by increasing economic disparity and widespread political repression...
...A March 4, 1987, demonstration against U.S...
...Due to the violence and the civil war, there was no work...
...citizens and relatives in El Salvador dependent class members...
...In 1985, following an extensive undercover investigation, 14 members of the sanctuary movement were indicted in Tucson, Arizona on charges of conspiracy and alien smuggling...
...military involve- ment in Central America on the steps of the U.S...
...To maintain her temporary status in the United States, for example, Irma's mother had to forego visiting El Salvador to see her dying mother...
...These regulations virtually guaranteed approval for the vast majority of NACARA claims...
...According to the U.S...
...But in the meantime, migrants who lack permanent legal status continue to experience paralyzing uncertainty, agonizing family separations and economic difficulties...
...As right to apply for suspension of deportation under pretemporary residents with pending asylum applications, IIRIRA rules...
...In 1996, Congress approved the AntiTerrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA...
...The World Bank reports that El Salvador's economy has achieved "growth and stable prices" in the post-war period...
...8 The same conditions that make ABC class members reluctant to return to El Salvador also fuel continued emigration...
...Irma was among the more than one million Salvadorans who fled to the United States from 1980 until 1992 during their homeland's civil war...
...The same year, as efforts to reform U.S...
...But when a victory was not forthcoming, the FMLN embarked on a strategy of prolonged warfare...
...Several from being a refugee to an immigrant population, the months into the campaign, Salvadorans and legal remedies allowing them to remain in the United Guatemalans joined forces with Nicaraguans who had States-asylum and TPS--remained linked to condi- fled the Sandinista government and were also victims of tions in El Salvador...
...Comunicado de prensa No...
...As a young girl, Irma experienced the horror of war firsthand: "I saw things when I was walking in the street...
...asylum procedures were launched, the U.S...
...The ABCNACARA program manager has estimated that it will take two years to adjudicate the remaining cases...
...policies in Central America...
...The army countered with scorched earth campaigns that, among other things, used aerial bombardment on areas of suspected guerrilla support...
...1 Since leaving El Salvador in 1986, they had lived in the United States in a virtual state of legal limbo...
...officials again granted Salvadorans TPS, currently scheduled to expire in March 2005...
...Irma, a talented artist who hopes to become an elementary school teacher, was unable to attend a four-year university until she obtained a green card...
...Nicaraguans fled a government the United States opposed, whereas Salvadorans and Guatemalans fled governments that Washington supported...
...cancellation cases that could be approved annually...
...For years, advocates had argued tation"-a legal process that granted permanent residency to immigrants who could prove seven years of continuous presence in the country, good moral character and that deportation would be an extreme hardship...
...By the end of 2003, the number of claims filed under the section of NACARA that applies to ABC class members stood at 131,688...
...Inspired by the example of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, FMLN forces hoped to quickly defeat the Salvadoran military...
...Also see Select Committee on Intelligence, U.S...
...7 Irma Martfnez and her family became residents in 2003 when they were finally called for an interview on their NACARA application...
...This counterinsurgency tactic, known as "draining the sea to kill the fish," caused heavy civilian casualties...
...religious congregations declared themselves "sanctuaries" for Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees who risked deportation, lawyers' groups aided asylum seekers, and Central American refugee community organizations sought to meet the needs of their growing population...
...Between 1961 and 1971, the percentage of landless families more than doubled-from 19% to 41%--and land holdings became increasingly concentrated in huge estates that cultivated crops for export...
...In this context, the U.S...
...9. Banco Central de Reserva de El Salvador, "Cifra record de remesas familiares en 2003: US$2,105.3 millones...
...The NACARA regulations enumerated for the first time the factors to be taken into consideration in assessing hardship -the applicant's age at time of immigration, the immigration status of the applicant's immediate family members, and the applicant's length of residence in the United States...
...Victims of human rights abuses worried cants had to demonstrate ten years of continuous presthat their persecutors were still at liberty...
...The solidarity movement soon caught the ire of the U.S...
...Widespread abductions, torture, assassinations and disappearances - approximately 95% of which the Truth Commission for El Salvador later attributed to government forces or rightwing death squads--established a culture of fear...
...Capitol...
...During this offensive, the Salvadoran Armed Forces assassinated six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter...
...The tortured and dismembered bodies of victims along roadsides served as discomposing warnings to others...
...government was providing the Salvadoran government with military and economic aid, it was reluctant to recognize Salvadoran 6migr6s as victims of human rights abuses and as deserving of political 38NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS Susan Coutin is a professor at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of two books on Salvadoran immigrants' legal history 38 NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICASREPORT ON NICARAGUA AND EL SALVADOR asylum...
...2. Hugh Byrne, El Salvador ' Civil War: A Study ofRevolu-tion (Boulder, CO: Lynn Rienner Publishers, 1996), p. 20...
...Salvadoran and Guatemalan authorities on their remittances...
Vol. 37 • May 2004 • No. 6
