US deporting an increasing number of Salvadorans

The report in El Diario de Hoy calls it an "avalanche" of deportations. US Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff directed that at least two deportation flights depart for El Salvador each week. The United States plans to deport 892 Salvadorans over the next two months. 356 of the deportees have criminal records.

To date in 2005, 5975 Salvadoran nationals have been returned on deportation flights from the US; of those, 1,424 had criminal records. El Diario states that 20% were gang members. There were around 4900 deportations in 2004.

Salvadoran authorities are concerned that some criminals are deported prior to finishing their sentences in the US. They are concerned that they do not have the resources to cope with the US dumping hundreds of criminals a month back into Salvadoran society. In addition, authorities want the ability to detain the arrivals for a period of time to make sure that they are not wanted for crimes in El Salvador.

Comments

Jessica said…
Tim- This is a very interesting blog and I appreciate your updates. I totally agree that this is a fascinating place as I am now living in Salvador and doing some research as a Fulbright scholar.

Thanks again for your awesome contributions!
Anonymous said…
Your blog is amazing.
Tim said…
Thanks to both of you and everyone else who is reading this blog. Please help make it be even better by contributing comments or e-mailing me with ideas of issues to cover.