“This American style of gangsterism was imported like a catalyst” and became mixed with the local gangs into a violent and murderous mash-up, Valdez said. “It took off like a wildfire, like a virus out of control.”
Academic researcher Al Valdez was in El Salvador’s capital city two years ago watching bewildered deportees from America step onto the tarmac. The plane was full of undocumented immigrants sent back because of their criminal records, he said, including some gang members. A nun gave each one a banana or an aspirin, and told them they were free to leave.
There was no one offering to help rehabilitate them into Salvadoran society.
“I was disturbed. They were simply repatriated back into their country,” said Valdez, the author of books on Southern California gangs and a former supervisor with the Orange County District Attorney’s gang unit.
The lack of oversight has allowed gang members to assert control in El Salvador and neighboring countries, where tens of thousands — including unaccompanied children — have made dangerous journeys to the U.S. border in recent months. In addition, Valdez said, the United States’ own policy has been an unintended driver of the pile-up on America’s doorstep.
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