Salvadorans
Salvadoran migrant workers show off their melon harvest as a truck moves them from one flied to another near Fresno. Image courtesy the U.C.L.A Photographic Archive, Department of Special Collections
Seeking Sanctuary in El Norte
Salvadoran citizens sought safety by migrating north through Mexico into the United States.
Many Salvadoran immigrants believed they would be protected by the Refugee Act of 1980, which granted asylum in the U.S. to immigrants who fled their countries due to "a well-founded fear of persecution." Hopes of refugee status for Salvadorans were often dashed, however, because the law favored those escaping Communist countries or the Middle East.
The U.S. government provided considerable financial and military aid to the Salvadoran government and was reluctant to accept this new flood of refugees. As a result, Salvadorans were classified as economic immigrants and their applications for political asylum were usually denied. Without refugee status, many feared deportation to El Salvador.