Guatemalan Consulate: I.C.E. says immigrant transfers end Thursday

Posted: Jun 05, 2014 5:04 PM PDTUpdated: Jun 05, 2014 5:14 PM PDT
By Jonathan Lowe - email


PHOENIX (CBS5) -Officials with both the Honduran and Guatemalan consulates in Phoenix say they were told by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that Thursday would be the last day of drop-offs at the bus station.

Guatemalan Consul General Jimena Diaz says many of the immigrants being dumped in Phoenix have been influenced by smugglers in their native countries.


"They [smugglers] say if you come here, and if you have a child with you, you are free to come," Diaz explained. She added that the smugglers will often tell unsuspecting immigrants: "It's no problem."


As two more bus loads dropped off another 70 or so immigrants Thursday at the Phoenix Greyhound bus station, we learned it's not as easy coming here. From Diaz's perspective, the problem boils down to overcrowding.


"It was too many people coming through Texas," she explained.


Arizona is the next closest state with I.C.E. and Border Patrol resources.


"So they send them to here," Diaz added.


It's an ongoing issues the Guatemalan government says it's working to mediate by quickly transferring the immigrants from the bus station to the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades hall on North 24th Street.


"They want to have a bath, to have another kind of food, make telephone calls, etc.," Diaz said.


And if they need money for a bus or plane ticket to where they're headed, "...in some cases, when they don't have any money," she added. "And also if they don't have identification, we can take care of that"


The consulate is also, however, "telling it like it is" in a way.


"They have to continue with the procedure, because it's not just OK to come here and stay and nothing is going to happen," Diaz clarified.

"They have to go to the court."


http://www.kpho.com/story/25707785/g...s-end-thursday