Thread: Deportations to Guatemala on the rise

Deportations to Guatemala on the rise
July 02, 2008 6:00 AM

Planeloads of deportees arrived in Guatemala from the United States nearly every week in 2007 as the Bush Administration stepped up enforcement activity against the country's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

"Every week four to five flights arrive," Ricardo Falla, a Jesuit priest and Guatemalan anthropologist, told a group of Guatemalan immigrants who gathered in the basement of New Bedford's St. Killian's Church in November.

"Hundreds and hundreds of people are being deported," he said.

The actual numbers are in the tens of thousands. The International Organization for Migration estimates that nearly 25,000 Guatemalan citizens were deported by air from the United States in 2007. The estimate marks a 255 percent increase from 2004, when 7,029 Guatemalans, including 200 children, were deported by air from the United States. The number of deportations increased to 11,512 in 2005 and to 18,302 in 2006.

Victor Garcia was deported to Guatemala in September 2007 — six months after he was caught in a federal immigration raid at the Michael Bianco Inc. bag factory in New Bedford's South End.

While he sewed backpacks and vests for U.S. troops overseas, the illegal immigrant didn't worry much about being deported.

"I was thinking of having a job, earning some money and coming back again," he said.

"In the past, they only deported people who were criminals," said his sister-in-law, Estela.

Since returning to Guatemala, Victor has been unable to find a job to support his wife and four children. He needs to earn $5,000 to complete their half-built house.

Ana Gutierrez Castro, a teacher and business owner who lives in Guatemala, is helping the Rev. Falla research the impact of deportation on Guatemalan migrants. She has found that many struggle with depression and alcoholism as they try to readjust to their lives in Guatemala.



"It's very sad to see them in my community," she said. "They arrive and have lost everything. They feel like they didn't achieve their goals."

Most deportees talk little about their experience in the United States and the "dehumanizing" manner in which they were caught and deported, she said. They stick to themselves and their families and do not integrate with the larger community.

"Many people who return don't know how to tell what they feel," she said. "It is not easy to tell their story"¦When they are drunk is when they talk about the situation."

Some deportees return to Guatemala only to leave again for the United States.

"It can be even worse if they get brought back or come home a second time," she said.

Rev. Falla is studying the 5 percent of migrants who return voluntarily to Guatemala from the United States. He calls them "living remittances." Just like monetary remittances (wages sent home by migrants), they have the power to do good or evil, he said.

Those who return to Guatemala have often gained self-confidence from their journey to the United States and the experience of living abroad. When they return home, they can use that empowerment in one of two ways.

"They can be agents of transformation in their communities, for better or worse," Rev. Falla said.

Some migrants will get involved in political parties and other groups that are fighting for social change, he said. Others may join gangs and become involved in drug-trafficking or people smuggling.

www.southcoasttoday.com

Guatemala: Keep your people at home! NO ILLEGALS IN AMERICA!