- Between weeks 8 and 14, each student should provide a weekly reflection (500 words) on the data you have collected to date.
- What data did you collect?
- What is your initial impression of the data?
- How have the data you have collected this week changed/progressed your thinking about your research project?
- What challenges did you encounter while collecting the data?
- What are your next steps?
I was able to collect data regarding the legality of Salvadoran immigrants in the United States and how that changed with time. I found two sources that focused on legality in depth which are Exiled Home: Salvadoran Transnational Youth in the Aftermath of Violence by Susan Bibler Coutin and “Liminal Legality: Salvadoran and Guatemalan Immigrants’ Lives in the United States” by Cecilia Menjivar. Coutin touched on an important point regarding how the civil war in El Salvador would later impact Salvadoran migrants’ legal status in the United States. Given that the United States was financing the civil war and intervening to prevent the spread of communism the accepted narrative depoliticized the war. The depoliticization of the civil war meant that the US could easily deny entry to immigrants seeking asylum refuge. Instead, the US considered Salvadorans as economic immigrants. In many ways, the depoliticization of the civil war invalidates the experience of all those who were fleeing the violence. The depoliticized perspective presented the civil war as primarily causing a severe economic downturn and not as a violent conflict that resulted in the death of thousands of people.
Menjivar’s work focused on the “liminal legality” and legal “nonexistence” of Salvadorans who migrated to the US. The effects of uncertain legal status caused by the complexity of the immigration process affected Salvadorans in different aspects such as limited access to work and resources, the separation of families, and their ability to assimilate. Also, not being considered legal in the US and being miles away from home put them in an almost permanent state of “transitional beings” in which they did not feel like they belonged anywhere.
Overall, I did have an idea of how complicated the immigration process is for Salvadorans in the US especially with TPS being removed. However, I was not aware that a lot of this had to do with the blatant disregard of violence that occurred because of the civil war. The main reason why the depoliticization of the civil war happened is that any other narrative that was closer to the violent reality would have contradicted what the US had publicly stated regarding its foreign intervention and policy in El Salvador.
The data I collected this week demonstrates how much the legal process and narratives can shape the identity of immigrants. The legal nonexistence of these individuals makes it difficult to pursue the “American dream” and reach a better and safer life than the one they had in El Salvador. A challenge I encountered was that not many sources provided a contextualized history of how the legal process of immigration changed based on time and context. My next steps include looking into how assimilation and identity were affected since this week I focused more on contextualizing and learning more about the legality of Salvadoran immigrants.