FREE//GRATUITO
PUBLISHED BY ACCIÓN LATINA
Vol. 51 No. 14
July 15-28, 2021
YOUNG SALVADORAN FATHER FACES DEPORTATION AND EXTREME DANGER IF SENT BACK HOME PADRE SALVADOREÑO ENFRENTA DEPORTACIÓN Y PELIGRO EXTREMO Kevin Colindres
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Kevin Colindres
El Tecolote
t was 5 a.m. when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided Willian’s home where he slept in his bed with his two infant children. Willian, a 24-year old father of two and survivor of torture in El Salvador, said he woke up to ICE officers inside his home pointing a gun toward him and his youngest child’s head. The officer commanded him to put his hands up and forcefully detained him. Willian (whose last name El Tecolote is not publishing for safety reasons) has been fighting his immigration civil case while in custody since November 2018. Willian faced deportation on July 14. As of press time, El Tecolote learned that Willian has been transferred back to California and given a 30-day extension. Another delay to his deportation, giving more time to fight his case. At the age of 16, Willian came to the U.S. to leave a hostile environment but faces extreme danger if he is sent back home. Attorneys from the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office and Pangea Legal Services have been working on Willian’s case. “It’s been very difficult for me because I am a victim of the system of the United States,” Willian said. “I’m paying for the consequences of what somebody else did.” In the 1980s, the people of El Salvador went to war against the Salvadoran government’s US-backed military dictatorship and allied death squads. Many citizens fled to the United States with nothing but the will to survive. Communities were formed in working-class neighborhoods all over the nation and with poverty, racism, and class struggle came an emergence of gangs to survive. The end of the 20th century saw MS-13 membership exponentially increase in the United States. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility law, which made the deportation of foreign-born residents that had varying criminal records easier to deport. In 2005, ICE initiated Operation Community Shield, bringing together ICE, state and local law enforcement, and other federal agencies to target MS-13 members for deportation. According to Human Rights Watch, approximately 60,000 gang members now operate in El Salvador. MS-13, a clear product of U.S. intervention, racism, and class struggle, had now become El Salvador’s problem to deal with. Many children in rougher neighborhoods are coerced into helping gang members with no way out. Many have to flee their homes and seek asylum to escape the cycle of vi-
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Diana, junto con su hijo de dos años, sostiene una fotografía de su pareja Willian, quien espera su deportación hacia El Salvador. Diana, alongside her two year old son, poses for a portrait while holding a photo of her partner Willian, who is slated for deportation to El Salvador. Photo: Alexis Terrazas olence. According to Human Rights Watch, as of 2019, Salvadorans had over 136,000 asylum applications pending in other countries, the majority of them in the U.S. From 2013 through 2019, 138 Salvadorans were killed after deportation from the US, and more than 70 were beaten, sexually assaulted, extorted, or tortured. “It is time for the U.S. to reckon with its imperial legacy in Central America rather than sending asylum seekers to their likely deaths, like it did with political refugees in the 1980s,” Committee in Solidarity of the People of El Salvador (CISPES) program coordinator and director Samantha Pineda said. “It should provide resources for those already within the country to ensure their pursuit of happiness in the form of livelihoods and radically rethink foreign policy towards the region to ensure a future for those who remain in their homelands.” At the age of 13, Willian was coerced by gangs to do tasks for them. He brought suitcases from his school to undisclosed locations and did whatever else the gangs needed him to do. Willian had no choice as the gangs threatened to kill him and his family if he did not cooperate. “The gangs would make me pick up drugs, move drugs around for them, and collect renta,” Willian said. In 2014, police in El Salvador caught up to him and accused him of being a gang member. According to Willian, joven padre salvadoreño que en 2018 ICE allanó su casa, lo arrestó Willian, he was tortured on multiple y lo puso en detención migratoria. Willian, a young Salvadoran father who occasions. He said he was once taken in 2018 was arrested after ICE raided his home, was placed in immigration detention. Photo: Alexis Terrazas See WILLIAN, page 10
El Tecolote
ran las 5 a.m. cuando el Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) allanó la casa de Willian mientras dormía en su cama con sus dos niños pequeños. Willian, un padre de 24 años con dos hijos y sobreviviente de tortura en El Salvador, dijo que se despertó cuando agentes de ICE ingresaron a su domicilio a punto de pistola apuntando a el y a la cabeza de su hijo menor. Uno de los oficiales le ordenó levantar las manos y procedió a detenerlo por la fuerza. Willian (cuyo apellido El Tecolote deja en anonimato por razones de seguridad) ha estado luchando contra su caso civil de inmigración mientras ha estado detenido desde noviembre de 2018. Ahora, enfrenta la deportación el 14 de julio. Al cierre de esta edición, El Tecolote se enteró de que Willian había sido trasladado de regreso a California y se le otorgó una extensión de 30 días. Un nuevo retraso en su deportación, que le da más tiempo para pelear su caso. A la edad de 16 años, llegó a este país huyendo de un ambiente hostil por lo que corre un peligro extremo en caso de que sea enviado de regreso a casa. Los abogados de la Oficina del Defensor Público de San Francisco y los Servicios Legales de Pangea han estado trabajando en su caso. “Ha sido muy difícil para mi porque soy una víctima del sistema de los EEUU,” dijo Willian. “Estoy pagando por las consecuencias de lo que hizo otra persona”. En la década de 1980, el pueblo de El Salvador fue a la guerra contra la dictadura militar respaldada por los EEUU del Gobierno Salvadoreño aliada con los escuadrones de la muerte. Muchos ciudadanos huyeron a este país trayendo consigo solo la voluntad de sobrevivir. Se formaron comunidades en barrios de clase trabajadora en todo el país y con la pobreza, el racismo y la lucha de las clases sociales surgieron pandillas. A finales del siglo XX, los miembros de la MS-13 aumentaron exponencialmente en los EEUU. En 1996, el presidente Bill Clinton firmó la Ley de Reforma de la Inmigracion Ilegal y Responsabilidad del Inmigrante, que facilitó la deportación de los residentes nacidos en el extranjero que tenían antecedentes penales diversos. En 2005, ICE inició la Operación Community Shield, reuniendo a dicha agencia con las fuerzas del orden público estatales y locales y otras agencias federales para apuntar a los miembros de la MS-13 para su deportación. Según Human Rights Watch, aproximadamente 60 mil miembros de la pandilla operan en El Salvador. La MS-13, es un producto claro de la intervención estadouniVea EL SALVADOR, página 10