Thread: TN: Guatemalan consulate comes to serve

Guatemalan consulate comes to serve

November 14, 2010

By: Perla Trevizo

Guatemalan Jose Vicente, 31, has lived in the United States for 15 years but never applied for a passport to his home country until this weekend.

The closest Guatemalan consulate is in Atlanta, and "It's really hard for people to go to Atlanta, especially if you don't have a driver's license," said the Chattanooga resident, who had a work permit until recently and now needs official identification.

But this weekend, for the first time in almost four years, the consulate came to Vicente.

A mobile Guatemalan consulate came Chattanooga on Saturday and remains today to process passports, birth certificates and consular identification cards.

Over the weekend, consulate officials will see close to 600 people in the East Lake Recreation Center off Dodds Avenue.

Every year, Atlanta consulate officials visit the cities with the largest Guatemalan populations in their four-state region -- Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Liaison Officer Merari Alvir said they came to Chattanooga because there's a need.

"There are a lot of people returning to Guatemala, either just to visit or for good," who need to process their passports or register their children, said Alvir.

He estimates there are about 15,000 Guatemalans in the Chattanooga region, which includes Dalton and Rome in Georgia and Cleveland, Tenn.

Although many Guatemalans who came to see the consulate are in the country illegally, many others are legal residents who settled here more than 15 years ago, Alvir said.

La Paz Chattanooga helped set up appointments with consular officials.

"We were swamped taking calls for appointments," said Stacy Johnson, executive director for La Paz, which helped coordinate the event.

"The appointments filled up two weeks ago and, on Monday morning, we came in and had 150 calls on the machine," she said. "That's not counting people who hang up and don't leave a message.

"The following day we had 80," she said, "so the need is definitely there."

On Saturday, several people drove long distances and didn't know they needed an appointment. They were served anyway because the consulate's goal is to reach those who can't easily go to Atlanta, Alvir said.

Vilma Gutierrez drove from Kentucky with her two daughters, ages 9 and 14, because she needed to apply for a Guatemalan passport.

Gutierrez and her husband were detained by immigration officials for being in the country illegally. Her husband was deported but she was allowed to get things in order because of her daughters. She also must return to her native country, she said.

"We were looking for the address at 11 p.m. [Friday night] and were here at 5 a.m. [Saturday morning]," she said.

www.timesfreepress.com

The mexicans have been so successful in aiding and abetting their illegal invaders on our soil that the Guatemalans now want to get in on the action. And why not, nobody has done a thing about the mexicans. They're allowed to set up a consulate anywhere they damn well please, not including their mobile consulates that can serve their invaders in those few areas where their is not an established outpost.

Wonderful....

Vilma Gutierrez drove from Kentucky with her two daughters, ages 9 and 14, because she needed to apply for a Guatemalan passport.

Gutierrez and her husband were detained by immigration officials for being in the country illegally. Her husband was deported but she was allowed to get things in order because of her daughters. She also must return to her native country, she said.

Well at least there is some good news to report. There will be three less illegal invaders in this country. Notice however this illegal invader still is driving even after being caught and ordered deported.

They just don't give a damn about any of our laws! Amazing....