Homeland reaches out to Salvadorans

By Timothy Pratt

Friday, July 19, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.

A high-ranking Salvadoran government official visited Las Vegas Thursday with a simple but important message for an estimated 35,000 immigrants from her country living in the valley: if you crossed the border before Feb. 13, 2001, Washington can help you.

The Bush Administration last week extended a program giving temporary residency to Salvadorans until Sept. 2003 -- one year beyond its original deadline. Called Temporary Protected Status, the program's idea is to legalize Salvadorans living in the United States so they can get better jobs and help family members back home still reeling from two earthquakes early last year.

"One out of four people from our country live abroad, most of them in the United States," said Maria Eugenia Brizuela de Avila, foreign affairs minister of El Salvador, in her visit Thursday.

This population sent home $2 billion last year, the small country's second largest source of income after exports.

"We want to build our relationship with these people, since they are a big help to our country," she said. "So I'm here to get the word out -- apply before Sept. 9 if you haven't, and apply for an extension before the same date if you already have TPS."

Eduardo Lopez Rajo, vice president of Fundacion Salvadorena, a local group, said 265,000 Salvadorans have been given TPS nationwide, with as many as 12,000 in Southern Nevada.

Brizuela de Avila targeted Las Vegas along with Salt Lake, Seattle and Dallas, which together are home to an estimated 150,000 Salvadorans.

She said her visit was a sign of a new tack among Central American governments -- following in Mexico's footsteps -- where everything from lobbying Washington on immigration to creating more investment programs back home for immigrants here is given high-level importance.

So it is that Las Vegas, with its growing Hispanic population, is becoming a required stop on the Latin leaders' political trail. Brizuela de Avila is the second cabinet-level official from Latin America to visit in the last year, together with Mexico's Juan Hernandez, director of the presidential office for Mexicans living abroad.

And Guatemalan presidential candidate Alvaro Colom brought his campaign to Las Vegas earlier this month.

Lopez Rajo said the push to legalize immigrants by Latin governments also helps the United States.

"Bringing these people out of illegality and identifying who they are is important for the rest of the country, too," he said. "This leads them to become more stable, get better jobs, pay more taxes, and build stronger bonds with the United States."