Work came first and education second, so he went to high school at night. “I looked at it as a dream. I was first in my class. I think I worked hard for this,” he said, twisting the high school class ring he still wears on his left hand. A gold band encrusted with diamonds is on the right; a gold stickpin, topped by a diamond-tipped C, adorns his tie. A gold watch jangles on his left wrist. “It just looks expensive,” he said, recalling that he paid $85 for it at Costco.

Castro was studying engineering at National University in San Salvador, then embarking on a civil war that would last 12 years. A family friend suggested he think about going to the United States.

Castro and a cousin decided to go for it in 1979, and Castro left behind a daughter from a previous relationship, a 1-year-old son and his wife, Gladis.

Upon his release, he lied and said he was from Mexico, so he would be deported no farther than the border country. In Guadalajara, he and his cousin met a professor who gave them documents saying they were university students, he said. His new name was Carlos Escovera.

They trekked over mountains, getting lost and paying $600 each to a gun-toting “coyote,” a person who smuggles immigrants out of Mexico, to get them to Los Angeles in March 1980. A month later, he came to Washington. After a number of dishwashing jobs, he hit the street as a day laborer. With his experience in construction and some knowledge of engineering, he quickly gained a reputation among developers.

“I’m not surprised that he is where he is today,” said developer Sam Dunn, who sponsored work visas for Carlos and Gladis, who entered the country illegally in 1982. Later that year, their son, Carlos Jr., arrived legally.

Developers encouraged Castro to venture out on his own. As his renovation career began to thrive, Castro longed to do something more and wanted his wife to stop cleaning houses.

He created a family business that now includes Carlos Jr., 26, and daughter Gina, 19. Daniel, 8, fluttered around his father at the suburban Woodbridge, Va., store during the summer.

But Castro was a novice in the grocery business, and by 1998, he was nearly bankrupt. Gwen Cody, a colleague in his real estate business, asked how much he needed.

Times have changed a bit, he said. In 1980, people welcomed him, for the most part. He also said he has hired illegal immigrants and has sponsored them for visas. But stricter laws have stopped that practice, and he said he wants those laws changed.

Now, as more immigrants arrive in the suburbs, tolerance seems to be vanishing, Castro said. He said he is appalled at the anti-immigrant sentiment growing in Virginia.

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