Why Are We the Third Latin Minority in the US?

The president-elect’s challenge should be up to the task. The country demands a statesman whose entire being is focused on confronting the problem of criminal and social violence.

Abandoning one’s homeland to go to another country is what a person does when they cannot find dignified living conditions in their own country. This is known as emigration, and is defined within a much broader concept regarding migrations made by determined populations. At one time, it was the Chinese, Africans, Arabs and Jews who looked to the West as a better place to live. Currently, the Latin-Caribbeans are the ones who are pursuing better opportunities in other countries like the U.S., Canada, Australia and European countries.

It is worthwhile to let our countrymen in the United States know what the El Salvador Independent Observation Group recently reported: that insecurity in the country contributed to the daily displacement of approximately 300 El Salvadorians, who left their country, fleeing the delinquent environment.

It is calculated that approximately 11.7 million undocumented persons live in the United States, and even though President Obama’s Democratic administration has tried to impose migratory reform to provide a legal outlet for the problem, the solution passes through the House of Representatives “filter,” where the majority are Republicans. Nevertheless, in the interim, deportations by land and air do not stop, aggravating the problem.

The Pew Research Center, which forms parts of the Global Attitudes Project, issued a study about immigration in Washington at the end of April this year. There, data is recorded related to the Salvadorian community residing in this nation, as a result of 792 face to face interviews with the same amount of people in El Salvador.

By the way, the PRC has conducted more than 300,000 interviews in 60 countries and has become the authority on the subject.

The most noteworthy statistics from the study are: 1) Of all those interviewed, 58 percent would go to the United States; 2) 93 percent cite gang violence as their primary concern; 3) for 83 percent, the political leadership of El Salvador is corrupt, and 49 percent of people believe the Legislative Assembly to be an institution with bad influence; 4) 83 percent believe in the positive value of the media and seven out of 10 people have a positive view of the military state; 5) 79 percent have positive feelings about the United States, but a similar percentage that lives in the U.S. reported being unsatisfied with the prevailing conditions in El Salvador; 6) almost 70 percent have a family member or friend in the United States; and 7) 1.9 million of them live in the U.S. and constitute the third Latin minority.

My conclusions on the subject:

First: People leave the country they were born in when they cannot find conditions that allow them to find a job to sustain a home, or where they feel physically threatened. This study shows that almost six out of 10 people interviewed would be willing to leave the country, even legally, and that the majority do not do so due to lack of money.

Second: It is unquestionable that the anti-gang policies have not had the desired effect. The unstoppable extortions that plague honest and hard-working people are evidence of this. It is as though the authorities involved in the problem don’t understand that, as long as there isn’t a real national crime policy that involves effective police repression, social rehabilitation, psychological rehabilitation and productive reinsertion, all intents will be in vain.

Third: While mutual mistrust prevails between the executive branch and those who should be their main partners in the creation of jobs (private business), job sources will not open up, local and foreign investments will not flow in, nor will the long awaited economic growth occur at levels that will make the country sustainable again.

Fourth: The president-elect’s challenge should be up to the task. The country demands a statesman whose entire being is focused on confronting the problem of criminal and social violence.

Fifth: The country demands effective development of key institutions to ensure a climate of legal and physical security. The responsibility should not be foisted on priests or pastors.

Sixth: The leadership currently in the legislative branch should take a step back and reflect on how their positioning and credibility with the citizens will be directly proportional to the quality of debate and legislative production promised.

Seventh: Salvadorians are the third Latin minority in the U.S., not because they want to be, but because the political systems of government (before from the right, now from the left), have shown an incapability to responsibly and effectively attend to this problem. It has become more comfortable for governments to export (throw out) people, receive their remittance and promote consumerism.