Facing deportation or returning to El Salvador

If you have time: 

1. Contact the Salvadoran Consulate in Aurora, Colorado by phone at 720-485-5412 or online at http://consuladoaurora.rree.gob.sv to get passports for you and your family members and other information for reentry.

2. Sign and give a Power of Attorney to someone you trust in the U.S. so that this person (your representative) can take care of your financial affairs for you after you leave.

3. Take care of your finances. Sell or transfer your real estate. Use banks to transfer funds from the U.S. to El Salvador.

4. Make arrangements for where you will go in El Salvador. Let your representative know how to contact you there.

5. Finish your family preparedness plan http://coloradoimmigrant.org/preparados. Tell your Power of Attorney where it is. Keep all your documents safe.

6. Avoid notarios!

7. Children of Salvadoran parents born in the U.S. may have the right to dual citizenship. Check with the Salvadoran Consulate for application information. Minor U.S. citizen children traveling to El Salvador should have a U.S. passport and a notarized consent form from the other parent or legal guardian permitting their travel.

8. Read the consulate website so you know what documents to bring.

9. Collect other documents for you and all children, such as school records and/or diplomas (notarized by school registrar), immunization records, and U.S. birth certificates.

10. Collect medical records; medications; marriage, divorce, and/or death certificates for every family member.

11. If family members travel separately, make sure that you sign an authorization letter for the adult caregiver who will be travelling with your minor children.

12. If a child will remain in the U.S. (even for a short time) in the care of a non-parent, sign a Power of Attorney authorizing the caregiver to care for your child.

Tip: Two last names (father’s last name, mother’s last name) may be required on all official documents. Be consistent in providing names.

Tip: Get more than one original birth certificate for each child because you may need them.

Warning: Keep in mind buying fake Salvadoran birth certificates can jeopardize your child’s dual citizenship.

• If you have an ankle monitor, you may have to get it removed prior to departure.
• You may be handcuffed and shackled at the ankles during transit.
• Your possessions may not be intact or returned to you at all.
• You may travel by bus to Florence, Arizona or another location in the U.S. and then be put on a plane to El Salvador. You will be taken by bus into San Salvador for processing.
• You may experience dehumanizing behavior from ICE officials. If you can remember their name or get their badge number, it could be helpful in the future or for others.*

*ICE does not respect your human dignity, but we do. Others you will find in El Salvador through this list will also treat you well and support you as much as they can.

People are transported to El Salvador from several detention centers in the U.S. Those deported from Denver generally depart on flights from Florence, Arizona. There are usually 110 people on these flights, which arrive in El Salvador in the afternoon. Their wrists and ankles are shackled until about 10 minutes before they land. All deportees are flown to Oscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport, located in San Luis Talpa, department of La Paz, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from San Salvador. Food, consisting of two pupusas and a soda, is provided upon arrival.

From the Oscar Arnulfo Romero International Airport, returnees are transported to the Directorate of Assistance to Migrants (DAMI) in San Salvador:

Services: Verification, reception, and assistance for Salvadorans returned by land and air.
Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (according to service needs).
Address: Final Bulevar Cnel. Arturo Castellanos, Colonia Quiñonez, (La Chacra), San Salvador (behind the workshops of the National Civil Police - PNC).
Phone: (503) 2133-7900

There is a nine-step process at DAMI. (This procedure is not always followed as described.)

1. Interview with the General Directorate of Migration and Aliens (DGME). Interviews last about three hours and include:

• Name, gender, age
• Reason they migrated to U.S.
• Length of time in U.S.
• Where they lived and worked
• If they have family still living in U.S.
• If they experienced abuse during process of deportation
• Contact information in El Salvador, if available

In some cases, when the person is detained in the U.S., their belongings are held, listed, and kept in a storage room until the date of the deportation. These belongings are sent in the same airplane as the deportees. Once the person arrives in El Salvador, they can request the items during this step of the interview process.

2. Interview with the National Civil Police
National Civil Police review individuals’ criminal and police records. They also take complaints of an act constituting a crime that is linked to why they left El Salvador for the U.S.

3. Medical consultation with the Ministry of Health
Returnees receive a general health check and a physical and psychological health diagnosis. They will get a referral to a health center near their home in the country for follow-up.

4. Provision of basic resources
Returnees get help with immediate needs to make a dignified return to their homes in El Salvador. That includes belts, shoes, shirts, pants, pampers, etc.

5. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRREE)
People can ask the MRREE to get information on how to contact their relatives abroad and the possibilities of reunification in El Salvador.

To get advice on how to claim property and acquired rights (for example, social benefits), they may have to contact the Human Rights Directorate of the Vice Minister for Salvadorans Abroad of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at:

Reintegration Program for Returned Migrants
General Directorate of Human Rights
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
El Pedregal Street, Blvd. Cancillería. Ciudad Merliot, Antiguo Cuscatlán, El Salvador
Tel. (503) 22311184, Fax (503) 22311152

6. National Council for Children and Adolescents (CONNA)
When a child/adolescent is returned alone or accompanied by an adult, they are interviewed to ensure their best interests and determine whether the child/adolescent experienced abuse prior to leaving El Salvador. This information is provided to the Protection Board of the child’s home department.

7. Telephone and internet access/transportation assistance
At the DMGE, returnees can use telephones to make national and international calls. Internet access is also available.

Returnees can get financial help for interdepartmental transportation according to the fares established by the DGME.

8. Employment assistance
The MRREE and the Ministry of Labor have a bulletin board with job offers. They also have a phone number to get information about job openings. If no jobs are available, people can leave their phone number to be contacted once there are openings.

9. Reunions
Adult returnees, if detained, can communicate with their relatives and wait for them in a waiting room.

For unaccompanied children, the consulate abroad gives notice to the Human Rights Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This office passes the information to the National Council for Children and Adolescents and in turn to the Child Protection Councils and Adolescence of the town of the child to give notice of the child’s deportation to their relatives.

Only children accompanied by their father, mother, or legal guardians can leave the DMGE without this step. However, the child’s birth certificate and the father/mother’s identity document(s) or the legal guardian’s authorization document must be provided.

SHELTER ASSISTANCE

The Migrant Assistance Center (CAIM) can provide shelter for returnees, if it is verified that bus service is not available or that the returnee does not have economic resources or family in San Salvador with whom to spend the night.