Salvadoran town deeply rooted in DC unfazed by US politics

Author: Agencies

In a quiet, cobblestoned town near the Pacific coast of El Salvador, residents are unfazed by the Trump administration seeking to lock up families indefinitely and ending temporary protected status for people from their country. They’re still going north.

“The people in this town know a lot of people get deported or stuck on the road, but still they go, sometimes with family, sometimes alone,” said Sgt. Ambrosio Vasquez Garcia, the local police chief.

In Intipuca, immigrating to the US — and particularly Washington, D.C. — has been a way of life for 50 years. Going to D.C. is a rooted part of the community’s habits, beliefs and customs. Half the town’s population is there and many of its homes are empty. Former residents now in the US support Intipuca, even paying for teachers at the local public school, making sure children learn English.

Going to Washington, D.C., more than 3,000 miles to the north, is a migration pattern that began in the 1960s. Some have visas and go back and forth legally. Others pay smugglers with successful records of moving residents through Mexico and across the US border: $7,000 for one person, $11,000 if they’re bringing a child.

“We all go, why not?” said Mauricio Castellon, calling out in English to a passing friend, “What’s up, dude?”

Castellon lived most of his life in the US but was recently deported after an arrest. Deportations used to be an embarrassment, but have become the norm. Those who can, go north again.

The hero statue in their main plaza, Parque Los Emigrantes (The Immigrants Park), features a young man with a backpack, heading to the U.S.

A large banner still hanging in front of City Hall this week greeted the mayor of Washington, D.C.: “Muriel Bowser Welcome To Intipuca City The Place To Be!!!” She visited earlier this month, and promised to return. After all, some 5,000 of the town’s 12,000 residents live in D.C., including the mayor’s hairdresser.

“Salvadorans have played an important role in building the diverse, inclusive, and thriving Washington, D.C., that we live in today,” she said in a statement.

Published in Daily Times, August 22^nd2018.