Salvadorans now fourth largest Latino group in the United States

Salvadorans now fourth
largest Latino group in U.S.
By Matt O’Brien
Contra Costa Times

Posted: 05/26/2011 04:19:31 PM PDT

Updated: 05/27/2011 01:59:12 PM PDT
Salvadoran-Americans are now the fourth-largest
Latino group in the United States, according to 2010
census figures released Thursday.

Those whose roots extend to El Salvador, one of the
smallest and densest countries in the Western
Hemisphere, now number more than 1.6 million in
the United States, and about 35 percent reside in
California. The latest tally means that Salvadoran-
Americans have surpassed Dominican-Americans in
number and are swiftly gaining on Cuban-
Americans.

Those who hope the higher numbers translate into
the political and economic influence reached by
Mexican-Americans in California and Caribbean
Latinos elsewhere say they still have work to do.

“Numbers give you a certain kind of power, but of
course, you have to transfer that quantity of
numbers into quality,”

said Ramon Cardona, a
Salvadoran immigrant and director of Richmond’s
Centro Latino Cuzcatlan. “One big advantage that
Cubanos have is a lot of them came from the elite
powers in Cuba, they knew how to run systems, how
to run private enterprise and government
institutions. In the case of Salvadorans, that was not
the case. We had to forge and educate ourselves
here, underground. That takes a couple generations
to get the know-how and move into those kind of
ranks.”
 
The fact that the nation’s Salvadoran community
remains smaller than its Cuban community was a
surprise to some demographers tracking various
surveys; they expected the Salvadoran population to
be higher.

“Estimates going into the census suggested there
were more Salvadorans than Cubans,” said Mark
Hugo Lopez, associate director of the Pew Hispanic
Center. “The census shows it’s the other way
around, but they are very close.”

The U.S. Census Bureau has not yet released figures
about the Salvadoran population and other Central
American groups by cities or counties, but recent
surveys show the Bay Area remains one of the
nation’s Salvadoran hubs.

Sonia Garcia moved to the Bay Area from El Salvador
as an 8-year-old in the 1980s, and she was always
one of the few Latina girls at her Dublin schools.
Today, she said one can find pupusas — the
quintessential Salvadoran dish of stuffed corn
tortillas — at restaurants from Brentwood to
Mountain View. Garcia’s family opened their own
Livermore restaurant, La Pupusa House, a few years
ago.

“We’re leaders by nature,” she said. “We’re go-
getters. We’re businesspeople. We survived a civil
war. Coming to America is like a walk in the park.”

More than 8 percent of Latinos who live in the
Census Bureau’s six-county San Francisco-Oakland-
Vallejo metropolitan area cite El Salvador as their
country of origin, behind only the Washington, D.C. and Boston areas, according to an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center. Nationally, Salvadorans represent just 3.3 percent of the total Latino population.

One of the biggest waves of Salvadoran immigrants arrived amid the Central American country’s civil war that lasted from 1980 to 1992. Unlike Cuban refugees, who were granted routine asylum if they could manage to flee the communist island nation, many Salvadorans were declared economic migrants and turned away. Cities including San Francisco and Oakland declared themselves sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants, especially those fleeing repression and violence in Central America who crossed the border seeking refuge.

The percentage of Salvadorans and other Central Americans who are living in the country illegally remains higher than many other Latino groups, a factor that might make them harder to count, Cardona said.

“Those who are counted do not reflect all of the numbers of Salvadorans here,” Cardona said.

 (final del articulo)  – foto usada para este sitio es por R Galvez.
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{Traducido para su comodidad por Translator}

Salvadoreños ahora son la cuarta

Grupo de latinos en los Estados Unidos, de acuerdo a 2010

las cifras del censo publicado el jueves.

Aquellos cuyas raíces se extienden al Salvador, uno de los

países más pequeños y más densas en la occidental

Hemisferio, número ahora más de 1,6 millones en

los Estados Unidos y alrededor del 35 por ciento residen en

California. El último recuento medio salvadoreño -

Los estadounidenses han superado a Dominicana afroamericanos en

número y están ganando rápidamente en Cuba -

Estadounidenses.

Aquellos que esperan los números más altos se traducen en

la influencia política y económica alcanzada por

México-estadounidenses en California y Caribe

En otros países latinos dicen que aún quedan trabajo por hacer.

“Números de dan un cierto tipo de poder, sino

curso, usted debe transferir la cantidad de

números en calidad,”dijo Ramon Cardona, un

Inmigrante salvadoreña y director de Richmond

Centro Latino Cuzcatlan. “Una gran ventaja

Cubanos han es que muchos de ellos provenían de la elite

competencias en Cuba, sabían cómo ejecutar sistemas, cómo

para ejecutar la empresa privada y Gobierno

instituciones. En el caso de los salvadoreños, que no fue

el caso. Tuvimos que forjar y educarnos

aquí, subterráneas. Tiene un par de generaciones

para obtener los conocimientos técnicos y mover a los tipos de

filas”.

El hecho de que la nación del salvadoreña comunidad

sigue siendo menor que su comunidad cubana fue un

sorprender a algunos demógrafos seguimiento varios

encuestas; espera que la población salvadoreña a

ser superior.

“Las estimaciones en el censo había sugerido

fueron más salvadoreños que los cubanos,”dijo Mark

Hugo López, director asociado de la Pew Hispanic

Centro. “Muestra el censo es lo

alrededor, pero son muy estrechas. ”

La Oficina de censo de los Estados Unidos aún no ha publicado cifras

acerca de la población salvadoreña y otro Central

Grupos americanos por ciudades o condados, pero recientes

encuestas muestran que el área de la Bahía sigue siendo uno de los

concentradores salvadoreño de la nación.

Sonia Garcia se trasladó a la zona de la Bahía del Salvador

como un 8 años en la década de 1980 y ella fue siempre

una de las pocas niñas Latina en sus escuelas de Dublín.

Hoy, dijo que uno puede encontrar pupusas–la

plato salvadoreño por excelencia de maíz rellena

tortillas–en restaurantes de Brentwood para

Mountain View. Familia de Garcia abrió su propio

Restaurante Livermore, casa de La Pupusa, unos años

hace.

“Somos líderes por naturaleza”, dijo. “Somos atrapadores”.

 Somos gente de negocios. Sobrevivimos civil

guerra. Llegar a Estados Unidos es como un paseo en el Parque”.

Más de 8 por ciento de los Latinos que viven en el

Seis condados San Francisco de la Oficina del censo-Oakland -

Área metropolitana de Vallejo citar El Salvador como sus

país de origen, detrás sólo de la Washington, D.

================================================

OTRAS FUENTES: US CENSUS

5.26.2011

Hispanics of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban origin or descent remain the nation’s three largest Hispanic country-of-origin groups, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. However, while the relative position of these groups has remained unchanged since 2000, the next four Hispanic sub-groups—Salvadorans, Dominicans, Guatemalans and Colombians—grew faster during the decade. Despite their No. 1 status, Mexicans are not the dominant group in many of the nation’s metropolitan areas. For example, Cubans are the dominant group in Miami, Salvadorans are the largest group in the Washington, DC area, and in the New York-Northeastern New Jersey area, Puerto Ricans are the largest group. Even so, in many metro areas, such as Los Angeles-Long Beach, Chicago and San Antonio, TX, Mexicans are the largest Hispanic origin group-by far.

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