How will El Salvador cope with deportees from America?
The United States wants to expel up to 200,000 Salvadoreans. Both they, and their home country, will struggle to adjust
LUCIEN MARISON LANDAVERDE is feeling glum. Her father left El Salvador to “search for a better life” in the United States. He now lives in Virginia with three daughters who were born in the country and works as a cook. Ms Landaverde remained in San Salvador, El Salvador’s capital, putting in long hours at an ice-cream shop to earn $100 a month. Every month her father sends her double that amount.
On January 8th he called to say that he would soon return to El Salvador. That morning the United States’ Department of Homeland Security had announced that it would end temporary protected status (TPS) for nearly 200,000 Salvadoreans who got permission to live and work in the country after a pair of earthquakes struck El Salvador in 2001. Ms Landaverde’s father was among them.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "A fearful welcome"
From the January 11th 2018 edition
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