Organizers have canceled the 20th Festival Salvadoreñisimo, scheduled for September in Gaithersburg, Maryland, for fear of raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The annual festival, which is held close to El Salvador’s Independence Day on Sept. 15, celebrates Salvadoran culture and the Washington area’s large Salvadoran community.
Organizer Fredy Diaz told Washington’s WJLA-TV that “holding a large public event at this time could unintentionally create an opportunity for immigration enforcement actions, and we refuse to put anyone at risk.”
Nelson Navarro, a Montgomery County resident from El Salvador and annual attendee of the festival, told another Washington station, WTTG, “I think it’s a little trouble for a lot of people that hear that ICE is coming to take people and separate the families. I think that is not better for the Spanish guy or anything.”
The event will be postponed until next year, Mr. Diaz said.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich told WRC-TV, “The fact that we’re not doing it is because people are afraid to come out. It’s just sad commentary in America.”
Mr. Elrich told WTTG, referring to President Trump’s anti-illegal immigration policies, that, “if he wants criminals we are more than happy to help him, but just to go into a crowd or pick people out of a car and look for your identity has nothing to do with keeping us safer; that’s just cruelty.”
The Washington Times reached out for comment from the Department of Homeland Security.
In addition to Festival Salvadoreñisimo, a local soccer tournament, the Megamart Cup, was canceled for similar reasons, according to WRC.
Concerns about ICE have stifled Hispanic community events elsewhere in the country as well. In Chicago, home to a significant Mexican population, a Cinco de Mayo parade was canceled this year.
