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GUTIERREZ-THESIS-2015.Pdf Copyright by Miguel Gutierrez Jr 2015 The Thesis Committee for Miguel Gutierrez Jr. Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: Forced into Exile: Conflicts of Space, Gender and Identity among Young Salvadoran Deportees APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: Nestor Rodriguez Co-Supervisor: Bryan Roberts Forced into Exile: Conflicts of Space, Gender and Identity among Young Salvadoran Deportees by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., B.A. Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degrees of Master of Arts & Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin May 2015 Dedication To my parents, Miguel Gutierrez and Magdalena Gonzalez, who taught me that an education is something no one can ever take from you. Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. Nestor Rodriguez and Dr. Bryan Roberts for their guidance in writing this thesis. I would also like to thank Jackie Lyon and Samantha Spencer for all the conversations that would eventually lead to where I am today. Also, a special thank you to everyone in LLILAS for their support. The program truly felt like being part of a family. Lastly, this project would not have been possible without the individuals who shared their stories with me in El Salvador. Thank you for your bravery and trust. Hopefully we can build a world where many worlds fit. v Abstract Forced into Exile: Conflicts of Space, Gender and Identity among Young Salvadoran Deportees Miguel Gutierrez Jr., M.A.; M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2015 Supervisors: Nestor Rodriguez and Bryan Roberts The focus of this thesis is on male, Salvadoran deportees, aged 20-35, who after spending their formative years in the United States, are faced with the task of reintegrating into Salvadoran society. Overall, Salvadoran males account for 90% of detainees and deportees to El Salvador (UCA, 2015). Through this sample, I explore the experience of young deportees in the growing call-center sector, and explore the consequences of gendered, transnational narratives, and the impact of deportations on their identity. The backdrop for this study is El Salvador's growing call-center industry, as this is the site where I interviewed participants, and one that was continuously framed as a site of criminality by local Salvadorans. The way young deportees maintain bonds with their former communities in the United States, perform their identities, and self-identify can greatly influence the manner in which they interact with Salvadorans in their new society. Consequently, these former aspects can greatly affect how deportees reconstruct their lives in a foreign context. vi Table of Contents List of Illustrations ................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................1 Methodology ...................................................................................................4 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL APPROACHES .............................................................7 Transnationalism in a Deportation Context ....................................................7 Spatiality and the Construction of the Social Field ......................................10 Transnational Imaginaries .............................................................................12 Gendered Narratives .....................................................................................14 CHAPTER 3: FIXED BODIES AND EXPORTED VOICES ...........................................17 Salvadorans and U.S. Immigration Policy ....................................................17 The Advent of the Salvadoran Call-center Industry .....................................20 Narratives from the Call-center ....................................................................25 The Call-center and Perceptions of Criminality ...........................................32 Conclusion ....................................................................................................33 CHAPTER 4: GESTURING TOWARDS THE UNITED STATES ...................................35 El Hermano Lejano y El Deportado..............................................................35 “You Never Get Used to It” ..........................................................................40 Social Exclusion and Criminalization ...........................................................43 “I really want to go back.” ............................................................................47 Conclusion ....................................................................................................51 CHAPTER 5: SUPPORT NETWORKS AND MASCULINITY .......................................53 Formal Sources of Support ...........................................................................53 Informal Sources of Support .........................................................................56 Masculinity and Deportation.........................................................................60 “Failure is not an Option” .............................................................................62 Conclusion ....................................................................................................66 vii CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION ....................................................................................68 Current Shifts in Salvadoran Immigration Policy .........................................68 Closing Thoughts ..........................................................................................71 REFERENCES ..........................................................................................................74 viii List of Illustrations Illustration 1: El Salvador and Central America ....................................................18 Source: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 2015 ..............18 Illustration 2: CAFTA Countries ...........................................................................22 Source: CAFTA-DR Environmental Cooperation, 2015 ............22 Illustration 3: PROESA strategic location figure...................................................24 Source: PROESA, El Salvador. 2015. ........................................24 Illustration 4: Monument to El Hermano Lejano in El Salvador...........................36 Source: Wiki Commons, 2015. ...................................................36 Illustration 5: The 14 Departmentos of El Salvador ..............................................38 Source: Wiki Commons, 2015. ...................................................38 ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION When asked to identify the most difficult obstacle faced by deportees in El Salvador, Jose, a young deportee promptly replied, “Salvadoran society.” According to Jose, deportees are constantly faced with perceptions that criminalize and exclude them from Salvadoran society. El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America, yet Salvadorans are slated to compose the third largest Latin American population in the United States (Pew Research Center, 2013). Currently, an influx of deported youth to El Salvador has met serious challenges when reintegrating to Salvadoran society. Previous research in El Salvador has demonstrated that young deportees have a variegated reintegration process, with their experience contingent on levels of education, access to resources, and support networks (UCA, 2007; Hagan et al., 2008; Coutin, 2011; Dingeman & Coutin, 2012;). Though there exists a rich body of research documenting the experience of immigrants settling in the U.S., there is a deficiency in research documenting the outcomes of deportees, and their lived experience (Hagan et al., 2008; Brotherton & Barrios, 2009; Dingeman & Coutin, 2012). I focus my research on the experience of deported youth who belong to a cohort labeled the 1.5 generation, which refers to individuals born abroad, but brought to the United States at a young age by their immigrant parents (Flores & Benmayor, 1997; Portes and Rumbaut, 2001; Andrade-Eekhoff, 2003; Coutin, 2011). Displaced by a U.S.- sponsored civil war, Salvadorans—U.S. and foreign-born—comprise approximately 1,980,000 of the estimated 54 million Latinos residing in the U.S. (Pew Research Center, 2013). Furthermore, only about three-in-ten Salvadoran immigrants (29%) are U.S. citizens (Pew Research Center, 2013). In 1996, with the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), the criteria for deportation was broadened, 1 and subsequent enforcement programs, such as Secure Communities and E-verify aided in dramatically increasing the number of deportations to El Salvador (Rodriguez & Hagan, 2004; Brotherton & Barrios, 2009; Hagan et al, 2011). During the 2013 fiscal year, the Obama administration deported an unprecedented 438,000 undocumented immigrants. Of those individuals, a majority, 240,000, were categorized as non-criminals (Pew Research Center, 2013). The way young deportees maintain bonds with their former communities in the United States, perform their identities, and self-identify can greatly influence the manner in which they interact with Salvadorans in their new society. A sense of self-hood and social displacement is interlocked within a cultural conflict that is best described as socio- cultural dislocation (Brotherton and Barrios, 2009). Issues of socio-cultural dislocation pertain to the difficulties
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