There is no official tally, however, and our research suggests that the number of those killed is likely greater. We found these cases by combing through press accounts and court files, and by interviewing surviving family members, community members, and officials. In researching this report, we identified or investigated 138 cases of Salvadorans killed since 2013 after deportation from the US. Some deportees are killed following their return to El Salvador. It shows that, as asylum and immigration policies tighten in the United States and dire security problems continue in El Salvador, the US is repeatedly violating its obligations to protect Salvadorans from return to serious risk of harm. No government, UN agency, or nongovernmental organization has systematically monitored what happens to deported persons once back in El Salvador. Between 2014-2018, the US and Mexico have deported about 213,000 Salvadorans (102,000 from Mexico and 111,000 from the United States). While Salvadorans have asylum recognition rates as high as 75 percent in other Central American nations, and 36.5 percent in Mexico, the US recognized just 18.2 percent of Salvadorans as qualifying for asylum from 2014 to 2018. Of the estimated 1.2 million Salvadorans living in the United States who are not US citizens, just under one-quarter are lawful permanent residents, with the remaining three-quarters lacking papers or holding a temporary or precarious legal status. The US is not solely responsible-Salvadoran gangs who prey on deportees and Salvadoran authorities who harm deportees or who do little or nothing to protect them bear direct responsibility-but in many cases the US is putting Salvadorans in harm’s way in circumstances where it knows or should know that harm is likely. The US government has deported people to face abuse and even death in El Salvador.
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