Salvadoran American
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2011) |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Adrian Bellani · Joey Castillo · Fernando del Valle Anita Page · DJ Keoki · Francisco Cáceres Christy Turlington · Pete Sandoval J.R. Martinez · Allison Iraheta · Edwin Miranda · George Melendez Wright · Arturo Alvarez · Dj Radioboy · Markos Moulitsas · Somaya Reece · Mario A. Rivas · Sabi (singer) · Maurice Benard |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Total population | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,718,494 (2009 est)[1] - 2,584,767[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Regions with significant populations | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Languages | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
Christianity (mostly Catholic) |
Salvadorian Americans are citizens or residents of the United States of Salvadorian descent. As of 2010 there are 1.6 million Salvadorian Americans in the United States, the fourth-largest Hispanic community by nation of ancestry.They are also known as the nicknamed Salvi people in the USA, "Wanako" or "Guanako" in Central America, and Cuzcatleco in El Salvador.[1]
Many Salvadorian Americans reside in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Orange County, California, the Inland Empire and San Diego; Miami-Dade or South Florida as well in Central Florida; and the Washington Metropolitan Area: Washington, D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia. There is also a large number in Texas esp. in Houston, Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas; increasingly New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005; and in other California regions outside of Los Angeles such as the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, there is a significant number of Salvadorian Americans in the New York City area such as Northern New Jersey, Flushing, Queens and Long Island. Recent census data shows that for the first time and are now the largest Latino group in Long Island, there are more Salvadorians living on Long Island than Puerto Ricans, with Salvadorians, now numbering nearly 100,000, representing nearly a quarter of all Hispanics in the region. Salvadorans are also highly concentrated in Atlanta and northern Georgia as well in the Chicago metro area.
As of 2000, the largest Salvadorian communities were in the following metropolitan areas:[3]
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside CSA: 367,110
- Washington-Baltimore CSA: 173,512
- New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA 152,488
- Houston-Baytown-Huntsville CSA: 114,750
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington CSA: 87,435
- San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland CSA: 72,934
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] First Salvadorians in United States
Salvadorian immigration to the United States is a fairly recent phenomenon. The movement is small in comparison with some of the great immigration waves of the past, but it has a profound significance for both countries. The flight of Salvadorians from their own country was the most dramatic result of El Salvador's civil war, draining that country of between 20 and 30 percent of its population. Half or more of the refugees—between 500,000 and one million—immigrated to the United States, which was home to less than 10,000 Salvadorians before 1960 (Faren Bachelis, The Central Americans [New York: Chelsea House, 1990], p. 10; cited hereafter as Bachelis). El Salvador's exiled population is already changing life at home through its influence and its dollars and will undoubtedly play an important role in its future history.
Salvadorian American immigration has changed the face of foreign affairs in the United States. The flood of refugees from a U.S.-supported government forced a national rethinking of foreign policy priorities. This in turn transformed the nature of American support for the Salvadorian government and may have helped to end the war in El Salvador. Salvadorian Americans are at the center of an ongoing national debate about U.S. responsibility toward the world's refugees and the future of immigration in general.
[edit] Exodus Immigration
The exodus of Salvadorians was a result of both economic and political problems. The largest immigration wave occurred as a result of the Salvadoran Civil War in the 1980s, in which 20%-30% of El Salvador's population emigrated. About 50% percent, or up to 500,000 of those who escaped headed to the U.S., which was already home to over 10,000 Salvadorians, making Salvadorians Americans the third-largest Hispanic or Latino American group, after the Mexican American majority, Cubans, and (when not including Stateside Puerto Ricans). As civil wars engulfed several Central American countries in the 1980s, hundreds of thousands of Salvadorians fled their country and came to the United States. Between 1980 and 1990, the Salvadorian immigrant population in the United States increased nearly fivefold from 94,000 to 465,000. The number of Salvadorian immigrants in the United States continued to grow in the 1990s and 2000s as a result of family reunification and new arrivals fleeing a series of natural disasters that hit El Salvador, including earthquakes and hurricanes. By 2008, there were about 1.1 million Salvadorian immigrants in the United States. Salvadorians are the country's sixth largest immigrant group after Mexican, Filipino, Indian, Chinese, and Vietnamese foreign born. The immigrant population from this tiny Central American country is now nearly as large as the immigrant population from much larger China. (As reference, China's total population is 200 times larger and its territory is about 500 times larger than El Salvador's.)[4]
[edit] Race and ethnicity
Much of the Salvadorian population that came to the U.S. are of mixed Native American/European and/or also of White,and Native American ancestry. The Salvadorians of biracial ancestry Mestizo, can varied differently from European and Native American background ancestry European, Mayan, Pipil, Lenca), some also with African ancestry. The Indigenous Salvadorians are mostly of Pipil and Lenca ancestries, some are Mayan. Many of the biracial mixed and White Caucasian Salvadorians and other Central Americans have ancestry from Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Turkey, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, France, Hungary, Switzerland, United Kingdom, England, Ireland, Poland, and Serbia, that arrived in small communisties of El Salvador during the World War Two as refugees with the help of José Castellanos Contreras. Salvadorians have Middle Eastern and Arab ancestries that include Lebanon, Syria, and the majority come from Palestine that immigrated to El Salvador. Russians came in during the Salvadorian civil war during the cold war, to help the communist guerrillas take over the country, as did Americans, Australians, and Canadians when they helped the military government fight against the communists.
[edit] Misconceptions and Stereotypes
Many cultural observers contend that mainstream America has not yet formed a distinct stereotype of Salvadorian Americans. Salvadorians have settled in neighborhoods already populated by other Latin Americans, and outsiders generally have only a vague sense of the various Latino nationalities in those neighborhoods. But Salvadorians certainly share in the widespread discrimination leveled at Latinos. In the New York borough of Brooklyn, for example, a group of white teenagers who beat up a Salvadorian man in a neighborhood park reportedly referred to him as "that Mexican." Salvadorian Americans have sometimes had tense relations with their neighbors in the cities where they are concentrated. Salvadorian gangs have fought with Mexican gangs in Los Angeles, and in Washington, D.C., a city with a significant Salvadorian population, they have competed with African Americans for jobs and resources. In May 1991, after a black policewoman shot and killed a Salvadorian man during an arrest, Salvadorians in Washington's Mt. Pleasant neighborhood rioted. This incident, however, is not necessarily representative of relations in all Salvadorian American communities.
[edit] Acculturation and Assimilation
Asylum laws prohibit many Salvadorians from renewing their ties to their home culture. Most asylum seekers cannot visit El Salvador, even for a loved one's funeral, without losing their legal status in the United States. (The assumption is that anyone who travels to El Salvador—whatever the reason—is not really afraid of persecution there.) Thus, many Salvadorian Americans are torn between embracing the culture of America and maintaining their Salvadorian identities.
Salvadorian Americans form an insular community—with their own social clubs, doctors, even banks—and often have little contact with outsiders. They maintain a tight network, living almost exclusively with other people from their home country, or even their hometown (Pamela Constable, "We Will Stay Together," Washington Post Magazine, October 30, 1994; Doreen Cavaja,"Making Ends Meet in a Nether World," New York Times, December 13, 1994). Many older immigrants have spent more than ten years in the United States without learning any English.
Although they immigrated largely out of fear rather than a desire for a new life, Salvadorians in the United States, especially the younger generations, are gradually becoming Americanized. While conditions have improved in El Salvador, few refugees have returned home. The United States—once a place of refuge—has become a new home for Salvadorian immigrants. To reflect the changing needs of the Salvadorian American community, the Central American Refugee Center in Los Angeles (CARECEN), one of the largest support organizations for refugees, changed its name to the Central American Resource Center (Elston Carr, "A New Direction," Los Angeles Times, May 9, 1993).
Foreign-born men and women from El Salvador have higher rates of participation in the civilian labor force than immigrant men overall. They are also heavily concentrated in construction and services.
[edit] Politics and Government
The Salvadorian American community has not been a significant political force either in the United States or at home. However, the size, concentration, and organization of the community suggest that this may change in the future. Most Salvadorian Americans are not U.S. citizens and therefore do not have the right to vote in elections. Salvadorians do not have nearly as much influence with the political establishment as voting constituencies have. In Los Angeles, for instance, there is a stark contrast between the U.S.-born Chicano neighborhoods of East L.A. and the Pico-Union and West-lake neighborhoods, populated by immigrant Mexicans and Central Americans. The former have many community centers, legal services, and social workers; the latter have very few (Hector Tobar, "No Strength in Numbers for LA's Divided Latinos," Los Angeles Times, September 1, 1992). This situation is slowly changing, however: Carlos Vaquerano, the Salvadorian community affairs director of CARECEN, was named to the board of Rebuild L.A., organized to help the city recover from the L.A. riots in 1992 (Miles Corwin, "Understanding the Riots," Los Angeles Times, November 16, 1992).
One area of U.S. politics in which Salvadorian Americans have played an important role is in legislation regarding their immigration status. In the debate leading to the passage of Temporary Protected Status for Salvadorian refugees and the extensions of that status, Salvadorian organizations lobbied politicians and brought their cases of persecution to the press. At first, refugee organizations were run by Americans, and Salvadorians often appeared in public only with bandannas over their faces. Gradually, Salvadorians and other Central Americans began to take charge of the refugee organizations and assume a higher public profile.
Salvadorian Americans have also contributed significantly to labor union activity. Many refugees fought for the right to organize under repressive conditions in El Salvador, and they brought dedication, even militancy, to American unions. In a 1990 Los Angeles janitors' strike, for instance, Salvadorian union members continued to march and demonstrate even under the threat of police violence. And Salvadorian street vendors in Los Angeles have organized to improve their precarious situation (Tracy Wilkinson, "New Questions Arise for Salvadorians in Los Angeles," Los Angeles Times, January 12, 1992).
[edit] Salvadorian Americans relations with El Salvador
Most Salvadorian Americans are not active in or outspoken about Salvadorian politics. Those U.S. organizations most actively involved in Salvadorian politics (such as the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, CISPES) have attracted little participation by Salvadorian Americans themselves. The immigrants' own organizations have focused not on politics at home, but on relief and jobs in immigrant communities throughout the United States. This relative indifference to home politics may be surprising, given the political passions that have long raged in El Salvador; but the majority of Salvadorian Americans seem interested in putting the hatred of the past behind them.
While the most ideologically committed of the Salvadorian refugees settled in Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Australia, or Canada, those who settled in the United States focused on survival and building a community. Refugees who fled the government and refugees who fled the guerrillas have a lot in common; many will not even discuss their political beliefs, lest it disrupt the fragile solidarity of the refugee community. Furthermore, many Salvadorians on the left became active in politics because of the desperate poverty and class war in El Salvador; when they arrived in the United States, where it seemed for the first time possible to escape poverty through hard work, their political commitment sometimes melted away.
Salvadorians outside El Salvador are not permitted to cast absentee ballots in that country's elections. The majority of the refugee community is thought to favor the left, and the absence of their votes is believed to have helped the right-wing party ARENA win the Salvadorian presidency in 1989 and 1994 (Lisa Leff, "At Peace but Uneasy, Salvadorians Vote Today," Washington Post, March 20, 1994).
The relative lack of political influence among Salvadorian Americans is not necessarily permanent. Salvadorian immigrants are densely concentrated in a few cities, and they have a strong infrastructure in refugee organizations. As more Salvadorians become U.S. citizens, the immigrant community will probably play a larger role in local and regional politics. And given their economic contribution, they will almost certainly come to exert more influence in El Salvador.
[edit] El Salvador and United States relations
,_examines_a_young_boy_during_a_Continuing_Promise_2009_medical_community_service_project.jpg)
_2.jpg)
.jpg)
,_examines_a_patient_during_a_Continuing_Promise_2009_.jpg)
_28,_helps_Salvadoran_.jpg)
.jpg)
The history of U.S.-El Salvador relations encompasses some controversial moves and operations by the United States, e.g. the U.S.-involvement in the Salvadoran Civil War[5][6] and interference in Salvadorian elections such as during the 2004 presidential election.[7]
President Obama and President Funes announced the U.S.-El Salvador Partnership for Growth during President Obama's March 2011 visit to El Salvador. El Salvador is one of four counties—-along with the Philippines, Ghana, and Tanzania—-with which the United States is undertaking this partnership. The Partnership began with an analysis by economic experts from both countries, which identified the two key binding constraints to growth in El Salvador as crime and insecurity, as well as low productivity in the tradeables sector. Based on this assessment, the U.S. government worked closely with the Government of El Salvador to identify and prioritize key activities that would address those constraints to growth and unlock El Salvador's economic potential. The activities are outlined in a Joint Country Action Plan that will steer the partnership moving forward.
The recent 2009 elections resulted in the election of the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) party over the ARENA party that had been in power since 1992. ARENA supporters argued that the victory of FMLN would result in retaliation from the United States and lead to political reforms similar to those in Hugo Chaves’ Venezuela despite the U.S official neutral position. An Obama visit to El Salvador symbolized its acceptance of the new government and show to other Latin American countries that it will maintain strong ties despite the change of regime. The shift from ARENA to FMLN does symbolize the growing disenchantment of the Salvadorian population with Washington foreign policy. Despite this shift, El Salvador has not decided to become more self-reliant. The economic development it experienced by following the Washington Consensus was worth the cost of economic reforms because it was able to access the American market and compete in the global market. Therefore, the Obama visit validated the stability within El Salvador in the transition from ARENA to FMLN and showed other countries in the region the benefits of following the Washington Consensus. Obama’s visit was in order to strengthen America’s position in Central America and show that countries that follow liberalization reforms enjoy stronger ties with the United States.
El Salvador’s accommodation on economic and militia demand also meant that the United States would provide more benefits to Salvadorians living within the United States; Salvadorians have been eligible to receive TPS (Temporary Protection Status) since 2001. Approximately 2 million Salvadorians live in the United States, making it the sixth largest ethnic group in the United States. Such a large number of Salvadorians means that they have the capacity to send money back to El Salvador, which would make a very large contribution to its economy. Remittances from the United States make El Salvador more dependent on the United States support for Salvadorians living there. Thus, it is imperative that El Salvador maintains strong political ties with the American government because of its dependence on remittances. Remittances account for twenty percent of El Salvador’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which makes the economic ties with the United States even more important. Salvadorians who reside in the United States benefit as well from El Salvador’s accommodation as exemplified by the American government’s consistent extension of the TPS. El Salvador has lobbied successfully for those extensions because of the strong ties that have been forged. United States-El Salvador relations have been a reciprocal relationship in which El Salvador has gained much more than if it were to have chosen a resistance strategy. Thus, President Obama’s choice to stop in El Salvador exemplifies to the Salvadorian community in the United States that they have nothing to fear with the change of political parties.
The special relationship developed between the United States and El Salvador in the past 20 years has differentiated El Salvador from its neighboring Central American countries. Despite the high level of violence, El Salvador has transformed itself into a stable democracy and a success story in economic development.
U.S.-Salvadorian relations remain close and strong. U.S. policy towards the country promotes the strengthening of El Salvador's democratic institutions, rule of law, judicial reform, and civilian police; national reconciliation and reconstruction; and economic opportunity and growth. El Salvador has been a committed member of the coalition of nations fighting against terrorism and has sent 10 rotations of troops to Iraq to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. On August 26, 2011 Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte joined Salvadorian Minister of Defense David Munguía Payés in a formal send-off ceremony for 22 Salvadorian troops who will deploy to Afghanistan on August 28. The 22 troops will serve as instructor trainers within NATO Training Mission – Afghanistan (NTM-A). Specifically, 9 Air Force Trainers will work with the Afghan Air Units in Herat, 3 Military Police Trainers will work with the Afghan Police Academy in Kabul, and 10 Counter-Insurgency Instructors will operate throughout Afghanistan, training military and police units as part of 6 Mobile Training Teams.
Salvadorian troops have earned a reputation as an effective and professional military force for their participation in international humanitarian missions to Lebanon, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Sudan and Haiti. El Salvador’s Cuscatlán Battalion also served with distinction during 11 rotations in support of humanitarian and reconstruction activities in Iraq. This latest deployment will mark El Salvador’s first participation in the NATO mission to Afghanistan.
U.S. ties to El Salvador are dynamic and growing. More than 19,000 American citizens live and work full-time in El Salvador. Most are private businesspersons and their families, but a small number of American citizen retirees have been drawn to El Salvador by favorable tax conditions. The Embassy's consular section provides a full range of citizenship services to this community. The American Chamber of Commerce in El Salvador is located at World Trade Center, Torre 2, local No. 308, 89 Av. Nte. Col. Escalón, phone: 2263-9494.
Principal U.S. officials include:
- Ambassador--Mari Carmen Aponte
- Deputy Chief of Mission—Robert Blau
- USAID Mission Chief—Deborah Kennedy-Iraheta
- Political Counselor—Maeve Dwyer
- Economic Counselor—Mitch Ferguson
- Commercial Officer—Michael McGee
- Public Affairs Officer—Marti Estell
The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador is located in Antiguo Cuscatlán.
[edit] US communities with high percentages of people of Salvadorian ancestry
The top 25 US communities with the highest percentages of people claiming Salvadorian ancestry are:[8]
- Langley Park, Maryland 21.48 %
- New Cassel, New York 17.46%
- Brentwood, New York 11.85%
- Seven Corners, Virginia 10.98%
- North Bay Shore, New York 10.87%
- Hempstead, New York 10.52%
- Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia 9.68%
- Mendota, California 9.4%
- Herndon, Virginia 8.56%
- Adelphi, Maryland 8.35%
- Chillum, Maryland 8.11%
- Chelsea, Massachusetts 7.73%
- Huntington Station, New York 7.7%
- Inwood, New York 7.18%
- Uniondale, New York 7.16%
- Freeport, New York 7.07%
- Roosevelt, New York 6.71%
- Brentwood, Maryland 6.68%
- Silver Spring, Maryland 6.22%
- Central Islip, New York 6.16%
- Danville, Arkansas 5.89%
- Colma, California 5.63%
- West New York, New Jersey 5.44%
- Jefferson, Virginia 5.21%
- Gaithersburg, Maryland 5.06%
[edit] U.S. communities with the most residents born in El Salvador
Top 25 U.S. communities with the most residents born in El Salvador are:[9]
- Langley Park, MD 25.2%
- Seven Corners, VA 18.0%
- New Cassel, NY 15.5%
- Mendota, CA 13.8%
- Brentwood, NY 12.9%
- Hempstead, NY 12.3%
- Bailey's Crossroads, VA 12.2%
- Adelphi, MD 11.3%
- North Bay Shore, NY 10.6%
- Herndon, VA 10.3%
- Edmonston, MD 9.6%
- Chelsea, MA 8.8%
- Wheaton-Glenmont, MD 8.7%
- Chillum, MD 8.2%
- Silver Spring, MD 7.9%
- West New York, NJ 7.8%
- Uniondale, NY 7.8%
- Jefferson, VA 7.5%
- El Jebel, CO 7.5%
- Colma, CA 7.5%
- Mount Rainier, MD 7.3%
- Huntington Station, NY 7.2%
- Cottage City, MD 7.2%
- West Gate, VA 7.2%
- Freeport, NY 7.2%
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Census 2008 Selected Population Profile in the United States : Salvadorans". U.S. Census Bureau. 2008. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-qr_name=ACS_2008_1YR_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2008_1YR_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2008_1YR_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2008_1YR_G00_S0201TPR&-reg=ACS_2008_1YR_G00_S0201:412;ACS_2008_1YR_G00_S0201PR:412;ACS_2008_1YR_G00_S0201T:412;ACS_2008_1YR_G00_S0201TPR:412&-ds_name=ACS_2008_1YR_G00_&-_lang=en&-format=. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
- ^ El Salvador en el Mundo (Spanish)
- ^ http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-context=ip&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:412;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:412;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:412;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:412;&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-tree_id=305&-redoLog=false&-charIterations=047&-_caller=geoselect&-geo_id=01000US&-geo_id=33000US206&-geo_id=33000US288&-geo_id=33000US348&-geo_id=33000US408&-geo_id=33000US488&-geo_id=33000US548&-search_results=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en
- ^ Faren Bachelis (1990). The Central Americans. New York: Chelsea House. p. 10.
- ^ George Miller. "El Salvador: Policy of Deceit", The New York Times, October 21, 1988.
- ^ El Salvador death squads
- ^ Dana Rohrabacher Speaks out on El Salvador Election, Clashes With Obama Administration
- ^ "Ancestry Map of Salvadoran Communities". Epodunk.com. http://www.epodunk.com/ancestry/Salvadoran.html. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
- ^ "Top 101 cities with the most residents born in El Salvador (population 500+)". city-data.com. http://www.city-data.com/top2/h144.html. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
|
|
|||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
