ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jasmin Vargas is in her second year here at SF State, majoring in Latina/o Studies, and is in the process of adding Criminal Justice as her secondary major. Jasmin is from Montebello, CA, where she attended Montebello High School. She, like many Latinx youths, comes from an immigrant family. It was her family’s hardships and sacrifices that prompted her passion for learning about Latinx history in the U.S., and she found SF State to be the perfect school to do so. Jasmin has future goals to attend graduate school and earn a Master’s Degree in Public Administration; then, possibly, a PhD in Education. In her spare time, Jasmin enjoys attending indie/ alternative rock concerts, particularly, Bad Suns Concerts. Her favorite “activity” is binge watching her favorite TV shows: Friends, The Office, That ‘70s Show, Greys Anatomy -- just to name a few. However, she is not too sure this counts as an activity, because it mostly involves laying in bed all day. Jasmin also enjoys going to amusement parks; she is a total rollercoaster junkie. Additionally, she loves to attend baseball games, try new places to eat, and spend time with her mom, brother, and dog whenever she is back home. COMMENT FROM LECTURER, JAY JACKL: While Jasmin entered our English 214 community as a strong, compelling writer, she further developed her authorial identity through diligent revision and incorporation of peer and instructor feedback. In this ethnographic research essay, she thoughtfully addresses the many challenges faced by Salvadoran immigrants to the U.S. in the late twentieth century. In keeping with our course theme of social (in)justice, she critically engages an impactful sociopolitical event from recent history while performing the meta-task of offering her audience historical context for the current (and evidently divisive) issue of immigration policies in the U.S. Jasmin effectively illustrates how these policies can affect human beings who are trying to provide more stable and prosperous futures for their families by pursuing the ideals of the “American dream.” The issue of immigration has been center to U.S. politics since the country was founded and has evolved with the purpose and promise of keeping “illegal aliens” out. However, people whom the U.S. considers “illegal” have often belonged to marginalized communities that have contributed invaluably to the very foundation of America. Being “illegal” causes injust mental, emotional, and physical torture for a diverse population of immigrant communities within U.S. borders; and we can understand those effects by looking at Salvadoran immigration to the U.S. since the late 1900s. Leisy J. Abrego’s Sacrificing Families: Navigating Laws, Labor, and Love Across Borders depicts the life-threatening consequences of U.S. militaristic involvement in El Salvador during the 1980s and 1990s, and resulting tribulations Salvadorans faced as they tried to settle in the U.S., find work without exploitation, and keep up with the responsibilities of providing for their children. Unfortunately, Salvadorans suffered even more than other migrating Latino communities. Cuban migrants during the 1960s to 1970s, for example, had a more lenient experience with U.S. immigration policies, which were less strict at the time. Salvadorans experienced a completely different side of the U.S. foreign policy spectrum. Like Cubans, Salvadorans migrated to the U.S. seeking political asylum. Unlike Cubans, however, Salvadorans endured dangerous migration journeys, having to cross multiple borders, and once in the U.S., faced labor exploitation, prolonged separation from their families, and lack of support from the government (Abrego).
Salvadorans began migrating to the U.S. in the 1980s during a most unfortunate time. During the cold war, communist sympathies were rising in El Salvador, which prompted the U.S. government to interfere with El Salvador’s military, to prevent El Salvador from becoming a communist country. As a result, El Salvador became a war zone; children were regularly kidnapped and killed, and families were being broken apart. Everyone feared for their lives. Many joined the guerrilla movement in El Salvador, which worked toward defeating the military but also cost the lives of countless boys and men. During this time, despite its direct contribution to the thousands of deaths in El Salvador, the Reagan administration militarized border enforcement, making it difficult for Salvadorans to obtain political asylum in the U.S. Thus, Salvadoran migrants were met with additional barriers during their pursuit to freedom and safety in the U.S. “[The] Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act . . . made it more difficult for immigrants to obtain legal permanent residence . . . and also made legal permanent residents deportable” (Abrego 8). Consequently, Salvadorans seeking political asylum had no viable option but to enter the U.S. illegally. The “U.S. production of illegality had denied most migrants the opportunity to travel safely—even though they were fleeing political and economic conditions created directly and indirectly by U.S. enforced policies” (Abrego 55). Both men and women were subjected to physical and mental abuse traveling through multiple borders to reach the U.S.-Mexico border. Poor Salvadoran parents were the most common victims of this abuse because they were unable to afford safe methods of transportation. Poor Salvadoran mothers and fathers were more inclined than middle-class parents to leave their families and migrate to the U.S., hoping for better job opportunities and American citizenship. During this time, it was especially difficult for working-class Salvadoran families to find work or keep a job. They were highly targeted by guerrilla fighters to join the movement, causing employers to fear for their safety. Thus, many poor Salvadoran parents were fired, which resulted in their choice to migrate. Once completely settled in the U.S. with stable income and decent housing situations, the end goal was to save the rest of their family from El Salvador and bring them to the U.S. However, this process was not always successful, and in too many cases, it took years before Salvadoran immigrants reunited with their family. Due to their low financial status, many men and women were forced to entrust a coyote—an immigrant smuggler—to get them across the U.S.-Mexico border. This method resulted in enormous debt and prolonged the life-threatening experience for Salvadoran immigrants traveling across multiple borders to reach the U.S. More women and young children were raped, robbed, beaten, and killed at the Mexican border than at any other border. To make matters worse, they had to pay coyotes thousands of dollars without any assurance that they would make it to their destination. Abrego states, “By 2013, the financial costs for an unauthorized trip . . . [was] upwards of $8,000 and even $10,000 per traveler” (50). Salvadoran immigrants were already accumulating debt before being bombarded with legal costs in the U.S., all before knowing whether they could even find a job that would cover all their expenses and leave enough to send remittances, or money sent by mail, to their families in El Salvador.
Illegality shaped the settlement process in the U.S. for Salvadorans and greatly affected the way employers treated them. Fortunately, some could obtain Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which is “a form of administrative relief that allows otherwise undocumented immigrants to legally reside and work in the United States for eighteen months at a time” (Abrego 14-15). But, like most U.S. policies, TPS had its flaws. Most TPS recipients were middle-class Salvadoran parents, leaving poor undocumented Salvadorans with scarce resources and exposed to labor exploitation. Undocumented Salvadorans did not have government support to oppose dangerous working conditions or low wages, and if they did, their employers met them with ICE threats. This coincides with the difference in financial and living situations between poor and middle-class Salvadorans in the U.S. Unlike poor Salvadorans, middle-class Salvadorans were able to earn higher wages, workers compensation, and support from the government. Most even became eligible to “become Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs) only when they [were] given permission to reside (and work) in the United States permanently;” and would eventually become a “…naturalized citizen…who after a period of time with LPR status…gains full legal citizenship rights” (Abrego 70). It was rare for poor undocumented Salvadorans to gain the same rights as middle-class Salvadorans, which is why they lacked any financial stability, were unable to send remittances, and often failed to reunite with their families in El Salvador. Thus, the extended separation between poor Salvadoran migrant mothers and fathers forced them to renegotiate their notions of parenthood.
The effects of this division of class between Salvadorans, in terms of illegality, can also be seen in the lives of children in El Salvador who have migrant parents in the U.S. Abrego argues, “[Children] of undocumented immigrants experienced illegality through limited remittances and terrible living conditions[;] these families were also likely to be completely distraught about family separation” (83). In the parent’s defense, their children had not yet been to the U.S. to witness how difficult it had been for them to settle in American society. Many children in El Salvador began to lose hope in their parent’s success when, after several years of separation, they still had not made progress towards joining them in the U.S. Unfortunately, when undocumented Salvadoran parents in the U.S. were failing to provide substantial remittances, they became embarrassed and ashamed. Over time, they became distant with their children so that they could refrain from facing the guilt of failing them. “On the other hand, when parents were able to remit large and consistent sums of money, their children experienced improved living conditions, greater access to education, and, sometimes, notable upward mobility in socioeconomic status” (Abrego 83). This also gave middle-class parents the opportunity to reunite with their children and establish a new life for their family in the U.S., uncommon events for undocumented parents, who were more likely to be deported. According to a study in 2014 of identified cases of deportee murders, forty-five Salvadorans were killed during the deportation process (Kennedy). Furthermore, legal status not only regulated the number of remittances Salvadoran migrant parents were able to send; it also determined the likelihood of family reunification.
Illegality continues to play a key role in the lives of many Latin Americans in the U.S. However, no other Latino community has faced the discriminatory and unjust effects of U.S. immigration policy the way Salvadorans did during the 1980s and 1990s. Ronald Reagan’s administration made it especially difficult for Salvadorans to gain protection and American citizenship during the end stages of the Cold War, in an effort protect American citizens from Communists. In Lillian Guerra’s article “Late-Twentieth-Century Immigration and U.S. Foreign Policy: Forging Latino Identity in the Minefields of Political Memory,” an interviewee states, “People didn’t know too much about the war in Central America—all they knew were ‘communists’” (128). However, had it not been for the sacrifices of Salvadoran immigrants, El Salvador would have faced even greater negative effects of U.S. foreign policy. Without their sacrifices and contributions to American society, Salvadorans would not have later gained recognition in the U.S. In the early 2000s, “[the] U.S. Federal Government [recognized]…the trauma [it inflicted] on families and communities… [by] funding clinics meant to treat torture victims [and commissioning symbolic monuments] of so many refugees’ own perilous journey” (Guerra 143). Though these acts of recognition do not directly relieve the issue of illegality, they succeed at recognizing Salvadorans as victims of U.S. policy in Central America.
Works CitedAbrego, Leisy J. Sacrificing Families: Navigating Laws, Labor, and Love Across Borders. Stanford Univ. Press, 2014. Guerra, Lillian. "Late Twentieth Century Immigration and U.S. Foreign Policy: Forging Latino Identity in the Minefields of Political Memory" In American Latinos and the Making of the United States: a Theme Study. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 2013. Kennedy, Elizabeth G. "In the Press/ En La Presensa." Elizabeth G. Kennedy. 2 March 2016, https://elizabethgkennedy.com/in-the-press/