The Central American country wants to persuade the US legislative branch to promote an efficient exit to the crisis that can bring the end of DACA

Leer en Español: DACA: El Salvador busca defender a sus jóvenes

With the end of the DACA program, while Mexicans were the most affected group, the Central American countries were distressed. Faced with said situation, El Salvador has made the most efforts to pressure the United States’ government to seek a prompt exit from the crisis that would lead to the definitive end of the program. The Salvadoran Foreign Affairs Minister is working hard to ensure that the Salvadoran beneficiaries of DACA get out in the best possible way.

Immediately after Jeff Sessions announced the end of DACA, the Salvadoran Foreign Ministry began the process to find a way out to help the nearly 50,000 youth of said country who were part of the program. Chancellor Hugo Martinez traveled with a delegation of congressmen to discuss the issue with their counterparts in the US Senate. For Martinez, “the protection of the Salvadoran dreamers is a national theme that does not stop terrorizing the members of the Latin American community; the dreamers have contributed a lot to the American country so now they are about to leave through the back door”, affirmed in a press conference at the beginning of the trip.

Although the chancellor expressed concerns about what may happen later, he wanted to be emphatic in recognizing “the end of DACA does not involve immediate deportations, nor the end of the program in short term; we have six months to seek a solution with the US Congress”, he affirmed when asked about the future of the Salvadoran youth.

For the Salvadoran government, with the end of DACA, the Temporary Protection Status (TPS) is also under threat. Although the decision is more of the executive power, Martinez knows that should push the measure from the legislative.

The Foreign Affairs Minister recalled that there is always the possibility of a special law coming out that regulates the situation of foreigners who have partaken in temporary programs such as the NACAR Act of the early 1990s that gave permanent status to those who enjoyed TPS in the 80s; Martinez hopes that for the “dreamers” there will be a similar situation.

Following the announcement by the government of President Donald Trump to end the DACA program, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador different sectors have expressed the need for US Congress to legislate a migratory measure that might bring stability both to Central American nationals and to the country that receives them.

Latin American Post | Carlos Eduardo Gómez Avella

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