The topic is frequently featured in local media, which warn about the effects of large deportations of Salvadorans on the local economy and the eventual drop in remittances from the US, which represent almost a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

This Tuesday, the newspaper El Mundo reported that more than 40,000 Salvadoran migrants were detained at the United States border during 2024, the majority on its southern border, from January to November 2024, according to data from the Customs and Border Patrol Office (CBP, for its acronym in English).

High as it may look, the figure stands as a sharp decline compared to recent years, when arrests of more than 100,000 Salvadorans seeking to enter the northern territory illegally were frequent.

Regarding the issue, reports published in the local press address concerns of US farmers about the mass deportations announced by President-elect Donald Trump.

Some 2.4 million people work in the fields, of which 44 percent are so-called undocumented or illegal, according to a survey by the Department of Labor.

US farmers say that the country depends on immigrants in agriculture, although its politicians turn their backs on the situation. “When they need immigrant workers in the fields, they welcome them, and when they don’t, they throw them out,” said one landowner.

Others, however, believe that there are “many other problems to solve first,” while hoping that the country’s agriculture will not be affected.

“The United States food chain depends enormously on undocumented labor,” said economist David Ortega, quoted by the media.

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