Political Refugees from El Salvador: Gang Politics, the State, and Asylum Claims

Abstract

Social conditions driving refugees from El Salvador to seek asylum in the US have changed dramatically since the summer of 2015. After more than a decade of inter-gang warfare and criminal violence, the maras in El Salvador have become political actors. They have declared the formation of a new supra-organization, Mara-503, and announced that they intend to shape the political process in El Salvador and potentially the entire Central American region. As a result, people fleeing violence in El Salvador should be considered political refugees as defined by US immigration courts and United Nations charters. This essay is based on research conducted in El Salvador, and as an expert witness in cases for refugees from El Salvador. It outlines the emergence of a “Third Generation” of gang organizations, the threats to social order in El Salvador, and the approach immigration lawyers should pursue in refugee cases.