San Francisco Frontiers - Migrant's expulsion puts Washington Salvadorans on edge

"I'm afraid of being arrested while walking in the street," the 41-year-old undocumented migrant said.

Lopez left El Salvador three years ago to move in with her husband near the American capital, home to a large Salvadoran community, second only to that of Los Angeles.

It was near here in March that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was arrested -- a Salvadoran migrant hustled off to a prison in his home country by the Trump administration despite a 2019 court order that was supposed to protect him from deportation.

American authorities have acknowledged an "administrative error" in Abrego Garcia's case, but they have dug in over seeking his return to the country.

The Trump administration claims that Abrego Garcia belonged to the Salvadoran gang MS-13, which it has dubbed a "foreign terrorist organization" -- and said he is guilty of domestic violence.

"There should be a good investigation into this case, because we can't all be tarred with the same brush," Washington resident Lopez said.

"We came here to work," she insisted, adding that "we don't do any harm to anyone."

In Mount Pleasant, a Washington neighborhood peppered with Salvadoran restaurants, 31-year-old Keylie said that in her community, "some are working two part-times, even three part-times, just to make ends meet."

The daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, she declined to give her family name.

Keylie was born in the United States, and so holds citizenship, but said she still feels afraid.

"Just by looking at me, you can tell I'm Hispanic. I could be targeted just because of that," she said.

- Divided views –

The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return from a notorious Salvadoran prison.

Alberto Garcia, who is not related to Abrego Garcia, hailed the justices' decision.

The jailed man is the victim of an "injustice," Alberto Garcia said, adding, "They didn't give him the right to defend himself."

Some of the Salvadorans to whom AFP spoke, however, offered more nuanced takes on the case.

"The governments here and there (in El Salvador) have apparently discovered that he was part of a gang," said Saul Mercado with a shrug.

The sunglasses-wearing 60-something, who was granted political asylum after fleeing El Salvador's 1979-92 civil war, said he agrees with the policies Trump has pursued since returning to the White House in January.

The billionaire president won the votes of more than four in 10 Latinos in the November election, gaining substantial support among the community since 2020.

"He's cleaning up all the crime," Mercado said, comparing Trump to El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, who he said has his own country "making progress."

During a White House visit Monday, Bukele ruled out any flexibility in Abrego Garcia's case, saying he was unable to send the man back.

The Salvadoran president has boosted his popularity at home by waging relentless war on the gangs that once terrorized the Central American country.

Abrego Garcia's case "creates conflict" for many Salvadorans in the United States, said Abel Nunez, director of Carecen, a local group that aids Latin American migrants.

"They can see that this young man was a victim, they are aware of that, but they are not necessarily blaming Bukele for it. For them, he's just a jailer," added Nunez, who is Salvadoran.

"This case has more to do with the US as a whole, and not only with our community," he said. "Kilmar's expulsion opens the door for anyone to be sent outside of the country -- and that includes citizens."

Trump himself has floated the idea of sending US citizens to be jailed abroad, saying on Tuesday that he "would love" to send "homegrown criminals" to El Salvador's prisons.

K.Gray--SFF