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Migration Waves

US Interventions and the Central American People’s Journey

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CONFLICTS IN CENTRAL AMERICA

Guatemala’s Civil War, 1960–1996

On June 27, 1954, democratically elected Guatemalan president Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán was deposed in a CIA-sponsored coup to protect the profits of the United Fruit Company. This led to a multi-decade civil war and genocide resulting in the death and disappearance of up to 200,000 people.

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El Salvador and Honduras, 1969

Issues over land reform in Honduras and immigration and population growth in El Salvador started this conflict, also known as the “Football War.”

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Nicaraguan Revolution, 1978–1979

The Nicaraguan Revolution began with rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s and ended with the ouster of the dictatorship in 1978–1979.

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US Contra War, Nicaragua, 1980–1989

In the 1980s, the Reagan administration illegally funded counter-revolutionary warfare in Nicaragua. As scandal engulfed Washington, the solidarity movement pushed back against intervention

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El Salvador’s Civil War, 1980–1992

El Salvador’s civil war began in 1980 and ended 12 bloody years later. It saw extreme violence on both sides, including the terrorizing and targeting of civilians by death squads, the recruitment of child soldiers, and the death and disappearance of more than 75,000 people.

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U.S. INTERVENTION AND MILITARY SPENDING

Guatemala

In 1954, the United States’ Operation PBSuccess was granted a budget of $2.7 million for “psychological warfare and political action” and “subversion,” among the other components of a small paramilitary war.

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Nicaragua

In April 1984, Robert McFarlane convinced Saudi Arabia to contribute $1 million per month to the Contras through a secret bank account set up by Lt. Col. Oliver North.

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El Salvador

During the war’s peak in the 1980s, the US gave the Salvadoran military $1 million per day. El Salvador was the largest aid recipient during eight years, receiving slightly more than $3 billion, approximately $2.2 billion of which was economic assistance.

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Honduras

During the 1980s, the country served as a base of operations for the US-trained, -funded, and -backed Contras in their war against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government. It was a staging ground for US military involvement and CIA missions in the region.

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DISPLACEMENT/ IMMIGRATION

Guatemala

Between 500,000 and 1,500,000 people fled from the violence. The majority of civilians displaced in the conflict were the country’s Indigenous peoples.

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Nicaragua

In the 1980s, about 200,000 people fled Nicaragua in the span of a decade.

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El Salvador

Approximately half a million Salvadorans fled to the United States during the 1980s.

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Honduras

About 655,000 people left for the US in the 1980s.

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US IMMIGRATION LAWS AND REGULATIONS

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965
(Hart-Celler Act)

This law eliminated national origin quotas, and it established a visa system based on family preferences (two-thirds of total visas).

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Refugee Act of 1980

While adhering to the UN standard for defining refugees, this law made US refugee policy more responsive to changing situations by implementing annual admissions quotas that could be adjusted annually and establishing “well-founded fear of persecution” as the basis for asylum.

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Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA)

This law legalized most undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US before January 1, 1984, leading to more than 2,500,000 people becoming permanent legal residents. Farmworkers who could prove at least 90 days of employment also qualified for legalization.

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1990 Temporary Protected Status (TPS)

Established in the Immigration Act of 1990, temporary protected status provides temporary refugee protections for individuals from countries experiencing humanitarian crises, such as armed conflict or natural disasters. These protections allow them to live and work in the US safely while returning to their home country is unsafe.

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American Baptist Churches v. Thornburgh Settlement Agreement (ABC)

The regular denial of asylum applications by Salvadorans and Guatemalans fleeing violence in their homelands during the 1980s prompted a legal challenge, which led to a settlement in 1991 that forced changes to US procedures for handling such cases.

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Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA)

This law recast undocumented immigration as a crime and fused immigration enforcement with crime control. Among its most controversial provisions, the law expanded the crimes, broadly defined, for which immigrants could be deported and legal permanent residency status could be revoked.

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Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA)

This law passed in 1997 is considered a landmark piece of legislation in US immigration law. It provided a specific pathway to legal status for many individuals who had applied for asylum and were previously facing deportation.

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ARTISTS’ CONNECTIONS TO COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

The artists’ life stories testify to the historical memory of the Central American struggles for justice and democracy. Their social activism transformed, in exile, into a struggle for asylum and refugee status and for belonging in their US communities.
Sanctuary Movement, 1980s

The sanctuary movement combined religious faith and social activism to provide refuge for Central Americans fleeing violence and persecution and to raise awareness of the role of US policy in the Central American refugee crisis.

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El Rescate, 1981

This organization was the first agency in the US to respond with free legal and social services for the mass influx of refugees fleeing the war in El Salvador.

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Photograph by Joaquin Romero

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CARECEN, 1983

The original name of CARECEN was the Central American Refugee Center, and it was founded by Salvadoran refugees determined to secure legal status for the thousands of Central Americans fleeing civil war.​

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Clínica Romero, 1983

A coalition of Salvadoran civil war refugees who sought to address the pressing mental and physical needs of their compatriots in the LA community founded the clinic with the assistance of volunteer physicians.

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El Centro de Desarrollo Cultural, 1992

A non-profit founded in 1992 by a group of Central American artists and professionals dedicated to advancing the arts and community services in the Pico-Union neighborhood.

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Courtesy of Francisco A. Mejia

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El Comité Hermandad Pro-Aguilares (COMHPA), 1995

A non-profit organization founded in 1995 by Salvadoran immigrants from Aguilares, San Salvador, to raise funds for their hometown.

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Los Angeles City College, 1990s

is a public community college in East Hollywood, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard.

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Photo courtesy of Guillermo Fuentes

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Central American Cultural Center, 2006

An organization founded by Salvadoran artists in  2006 dedicated to building a culture of solidarity and memory of their immigrant roots in Los Angeles.

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La Piedra, 2018

This artist collective convenes twice a month at the Los Angeles Worker Center, also known as La Casa Roja in Mid-City to create, educate, and participate in community. 

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Photograph by Arturo Cambron

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Created by Claudia A. Portillo and Dr. Ester E. Hernández

Designed by Carla Portillo-Whitby 

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