A Mom's Approach to Deadbeat Dads {Salvadoran immigrants}

Washington Post ^ | October 5, 2007 | N.C. Aizenman

[3AngelaD]

...Sylvia Montalvo de Aquino seems ill-cast as the Salvadoran consulate's designated enforcer against deadbeat dads. But the immigrant fathers -- and occasionally mothers -- whom de Aquino summons to her Washington office know otherwise.

"My husband often jokes that he'd hate to be in their shoes, because, the truth is, I can get really harsh," de Aquino said, giggling. "I'll say to them, 'Did you just somehow forget that your child needs to eat three times a day? You think nothing of wasting a dollar on a candy bar or a beer here, while with that dollar your kid could be having dinner back in El Salvador!' "

De Aquino, 29, has a stern approach out of necessity. Tens of thousands of Salvadorans leave their children for the United States each year to earn money to support them, but the Salvadoran government also receives more than 125 complaints a month about children whose parents abandon them after heading north...

...with as much as a fourth of El Salvador's citizens living in the United States, Salvadoran officials say, the stress of immigration frequently plays an exacerbating role...Or the immigrant parent meets a new partner in the United States and starts a family that competes for his love and his paycheck.

Since 1999, guardians of neglected children have been able to file claims with El Salvador's attorney general's office that are forwarded to the consulate serving the area where the parent has relocated. A designated consular official is empowered to call the parent in and set an amount of child support to be paid each month. The parent is supposed to send payments to the consulate in the form of a money order that the consulate sends to the judge advocate general's office in El Salvador...

[3AngelaD]

So, now a quarter of the entire Salvadoran populace lives in the U.S. That's swell. But what it apparent here is that this woman has no authority, whatsoever, put enforce the laws of HER country in the U.S. The amoral aspect of the people who abandon their families in their home country and come here and start another family creeps me out.

[neodad]

Gotta love those family values!

[NavVet]

Why doesn’t the ElSalvadorian embassy simply report the deadbeat to Homeland Security and request an expedited family reunification.

[Yo-Yo]

Gotta ask: How many of those Salvatorans are here legally?

[Tennessee Nana]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW

family values in action...

/s

[gubamyster]

ping

[stephenjohnbanker]

What percentage is illegal? 90% ?

[3AngelaD]

A better question would be: how many of them arrived here legally. There are more than a quarter million Salvadorans here (I think it is more like more than a million) who came here illegally but were given special visas to stay after the 2001 earthquake. In any case, there are more than 2.5 million Salvadorans here in total. Their emergency visas have been renewed several times, despite the fact that El Salvador was given a ton of money to rebuild and life there has returned to what passes for normal in a third world hell hole. They will never be required to go home, and counted among many of these are the most vicious of the MS-13 gang members. The Salvadoran government has lobbied hard to get our government to allow these human dregs to stay here, and has a very active consul service that works constantly for their benefit. Again, the interests of U.S. citizens are subordinated to those of foreigners, and a particularly parasitical bunch, at that.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“They will never be required to go home, and counted among many of these are the most vicious of the MS-13 gang members. The Salvadoran government has lobbied hard to get our government to allow these human dregs to stay here, and has a very active consul service that works constantly for their benefit. Again, the interests of U.S. citizens are subordinated to those of foreigners, and a particularly parasitical bunch, at that.”

USA loses again!