Fearing detention by ICE officers and separation from her two young daughters, Salvadoran national Yessenia Ruano self-deported with her family in mid-June from the United States, hoping to rebuild their lives in the Central American country she fled more than a decade ago.

San Salvador

Yesenia Ruano, a 38-year-old teacher, and her family chose to self-deport from the United States to El Salvador, motivated by concerns over U.S. immigration enforcement and the risk of family separation. Ruano, who originally migrated to the U.S. in 2011 to escape poverty and violence, faced increased scrutiny and reporting requirements after a shift in U.S. immigration policy.

Upon returning, the family is planning to rebuild their lives using savings from abroad, with aspirations to find work or start a small business. The Salvadoran government has promoted incentives for returnees, and nearly 400 families have returned under these programs. Ruano's family is adjusting to life back in El Salvador, while considering future possibilities for their children.

Families rebuild in El Salvador after self-deporting from the U.S

This is the moment Yesenia Ruano stepped into her new life in El Salvador. The 38-year-old elementary school teacher decided to self-deport from the U.S. alongside her family, rather than live in fear of being separated from her two young daughters by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. YESENIA RUANO, Teacher Through Translation Interpreter for Yesenia Ruano, Spanish I was afraid of persecution from the government's anti-immigrant policy. I was scared and decided to leave, because I didn't want to be detained one day at home or live in fear over there. I decided to come here and start over. Ruano illegally migrated to the U.S. in 2011 in search of the American dream, looking to escape poverty and violence. While her life in the U.S. was happy, her journey there had been traumatic. Having paid a smuggler, she was held against her will in the U.S. until she could pay off her debts. It led Ruano to later apply for a T-visa, which is available to victims of human trafficking and allows people to remain in the U.S. legally if they help authorities detect or prosecute criminal cases. But after President Donald Trump took office in January, everything changed. She went from going to ICE offices once a year to report, to every month. At the end of May, ICE officials warned her that she had to return to El Salvador until the process concluded or else be detained and deported. ICE did not respond to a request for comment. Data from the Salvadoran government shows the number of Salvadorans deported from the United States has actually decreased by almost 24 percent between January and June, compared to the same period in 2024. Meanwhile, the government of President Nayib Bukele has been promoting a law to encourage the return of Salvadorans abroad through economic and social incentives. Nearly 400 families have returned to El Salvador under the program government data shows. The Salvadoran government did not respond to requests for comment on Ruano's case. Ruano and her husband, who also self-deported after entering the U.S. illegally in 2008, are now beginning to plan their new life with their family. They want to build their own home with the money they managed to save abroad and plan to apply for jobs as teachers, in construction or tourism, or even start a business selling tortillas or ice cream. For their 10-year-old daughter Elizabeth, the move has been a big change. It feels strange sometimes, sometimes familiar, and sometimes it feels weird here, like the weather. Everything, everything is different from over there. Ruano wonders if her daughters will return to Milwaukee once they're over the age of 18, where they still have a home.

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Tel Aviv-Yafo

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Breakdown