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Podcasts Take Two
Record US deportations help fuel call center industry in El Salvador
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Jan 18, 2017
Listen • 7:55
Record US deportations help fuel call center industry in El Salvador
A look at how deportees from the U.S. are helping grow El Salvador's call center industry.
Children's social workers take hotline calls at the Metro North office of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services on Friday afternoon, April 8, 2016. The call center employs 125 social workers.
Children's social workers take hotline calls at the Metro North office of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services on Friday afternoon, April 8, 2016. The call center employs 125 social workers.
(
Maya Sugarman/KPCC
)

A look at how deportees from the U.S. are helping grow El Salvador's call center industry.

You get deported to a country that's foreign to you. All you're armed with is that you can speak English and the desperation to make a living and survive.

For over 20,000 people in El Salvador their best option - get a job at a call center.

Record U.S. deportations over the past few years have helped fuel and build a thriving industry in that Central American nation.

Jonathan Blitzer, who wrote about this in The New Yorker, spoke to A Martinez for more.

To hear the full segment, click the blue play button above.