Old Habits Die Hard

This post was written by Paul Orszag, a friend, fellow traveler and guest author on Roaddialogues.com

San Salvador, El Salvador

2,629 miles from San Francisco

The year is 1999. And David Averrenga has just made it to what he hopes is a better life. Legally immigrating to the US from El Salvador, David has been able to find work as a golf course groundskeeper at a course outside of Atlanta. He’s a youthful and spry 18-year-old. 

David was legally able to come to move the states via an increased immigration deal between the El Salvadorian and US governments that allowed for the emigration of 1000s of El Salvadorians seeking refuge from the extreme violence that had been tearing apart after the country after its brutal 12-year civil war. David knew he was one of the lucky ones and got down to business attempting to build a better life. 

After deciding that the 2-hour commute to the golf course was too much of a burden riding the local transportation every day, David found a job that was more geographically desirable albeit a bit grimier: dishwashing. David, due to his young age and lack of experience, had a limited skill set but a deep desire to succeed. 

Upon seeing his strong work ethic, a coworker convinced him to try and learn English. The opportunities for immigrants are ten-fold for those who can speak the local tongue and David realized what he needed to do. Like many immigrants, he took night classes so that he could work during the day and maintain his lifestyle; a lifestyle that as David stated included “a bad crowd”.

Between work and English classes, David had a nightly routine that included: Drinking. Smoking. Smoking. Drinking. It was a cycle he was very comfortable with. He was 21 years old and living what he figured at the time was his best life. 

After 7 months David was at a proficient/professional level of the English-language, impressive for anyone learning. He received a promotion at work and continued his hard-partying ways. Life, like a lot of hard-working 20-something-year-olds making money for the first time, was pretty good. 

Come 2006 though, all of that was about to change. One Saturday morning, David received a letter from his father stating that his grandfather had passed away. David went numb. Cold surrounding him like the grim reaper was knocking at his own door. His grandfather taught him most of what he knew. Devastated, David cut everyone out for a week while sulking and trying to pick the pieces back up. As he did so, he turned to alcohol to help ease the pain.

During this timeframe, however, David had a very important task that he needed to complete: pay his monthly US immigration taxes. By not paying his fees on time, David was in violation of the US law of immigration and subject to be detained for potential deportation. No less than three weeks later, David was asked for his papers by local police while drinking with his friends. It was a routine inspection for the group, all of whom were immigrants from various Central American countries. 

Upon seeing that there was a warrant out for David’s arrest, the cops threw him in the back of the car and hauled him off to jail. From September (when he was initially detained) to December 2006, David laid waiting for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, to come and grab him. They could have easily done so in September or even October but for reasons unbeknownst to David, he laid in jail rotting like a criminal. His crime? Not paying his fees on time. 

Three and a half months later in December 2006, they finally hauled him away to an immigration detention center where he awaited his hearing for another 4 months. At his hearing in April, the judge ordered that he be deported back to El Salvador. 

A month into his time at the immigration detention center, David’s father, now in the states, came to visit him. Talking to each other through an immovable glass wall, David looked into his father’s eyes and wept. Knowing that David had gotten into a bit of a habit with alcohol and drugs, David’s father asked him: If you had the choice and you had to choose one, would you rather: be in prison, be in the hospital, or be dead. David, completely and utterly speechless, took more than the usual amount of time to answer a question with an obvious answer: none of the above. And it suddenly hit David. He needed to make some changes if he wanted to succeed in this life. 

Today in 2019, almost 13 years later and reflecting on what happened, David has no regrets. He loved every minute of his time in the states but knew he was going down a dangerous path with “a bad crowd”. 

Upon his return to El Salvador, David struggled to regain a foothold in his home country. He found a job driving for a large taxi company but was barely making ends meet. On a daily basis, he’d make around $5 USD per day driving. He estimated that he spent about $4 of that on daily food to survive. And that’s just for himself. Imagine if he had a child or spouse to support as well. To top it all off, a lot of that was working from 5:30 am - 2:00 am when the last flights into San Salvador would come in. Over 20 hour days for essentially $1 of income. After seeing that the potential for a good life by El Salvadorian standards would not be possible driving with this taxi company, he decided to take matters into his own hands. 

While fervently listening to his story, I lauded David as an entrepreneur. He told me in his nearly perfect English, “A man from Virginia told me this word recently ’entrepreneur’. What it means?”. 

David made his connections in the transportation industry and within a few years launched his own taxi and shuttle company that takes tourists all around the country of El Salvador, which is geographically smaller than the state of Louisiana. While he was starting up his new venture, David, was able to strike the oil well once more. His neighbor, who saw David continually struggling but still fervently pushing despite the weak rewards, allowed David to take over the rest of the payments on a 2014 Chevy Malibu that his wife barely drove after being impressed by David’s work ethic. It was David’s first car and he has been putting it to good use. 

Now, David makes around $75 per day and is able to support himself and his family. Take out the $4 for daily food, the requisite gas needed to ferry passengers, and the monthly car payments and David says he is still making very livable wages. Although the US immigration policy failed someone who was a tax-paying member of society, David was able to have the last laugh.

He cut out his horrible drinking and smoking habits and is now sober. Although it was his grandfather’s death that set him back, David knows that he would have remembered to pay the immigration tax if he hadn’t been drinking so heavily in mourning. 

Sober, hard-working, and a strong knowledge of the English language has propelled David to where he wants to be: successful in El Salvador. As we connected and discussed his life, his face was beaming with joy. With how inspiring his story was, you could even say that my face was like a deer in David’s headlights. While David could barely get breaths in between his story, he was able to still shower love upon his country and the great people within it. For all of the talk of violence and gang wars, David knows that this is a safe place that more and more people need to keep and start, visiting. “You just need to keep your head up and be smart to not stay around a bad crowd”.