"I've been banished from the U.S., you know. Like they used to do in the medieval days. They used to ban fools. [Laughs] I went to kindergarten in L.A., elementary school, junior high school, high school. I grew up singing, you know, "My Country 'Tis of Thee" [chuckles]. You know that little song, "America the Beautiful." I learned, you know, pledging allegiance to the flag. I grew up with all that. You know? And here they are, 27 years later, kicking me out."
In 1996, tough new immigration laws were passed, making it easier to deport legal U.S. residents who committed crimes. The law expanded the definition of a deportable crime, and made the change retroactive. Gang members from the United States were suddenly being exported in larger numbers to their countries of birth, and many of them greeted these new homes away from home by acting exactly how they had acted here in the States. There have been huge rises in gang activity in El Salvador and other countries as a result of the new laws. Jose William Huezo Soriano, a.k.a. Weasel, was deported just over a year ago to El Salvador. He had to make the adjustment from living in a very rich country to a rather poor one. And he had to figure out who to be, in this place that he was told was his new home. Radio producer Joe Richman gave him a tape recorder to document how he is getting along. This is the story they put together, as it originally aired on the public radio show, This American LifeĀ®.