Guatemala, Jul 28 (Prensa Latina) The Guatemalan Catholic Church said illegal immigrants are humiliated in the United States, from where nearly 15,000 Guatemalans have been expelled so far this year.

Archbishop Rodolfo Quezada Toruño condemned the practice of installing chips on the immigrants to keep them under control, as they do with criminals on parole.

"Installing a device on people to locate them is humiliating. It is a sign of slavery," the cardinal said during a mass in the metropolitan cathedral.

Quezada urged the Guatemalan government to improve legal advisory to immigrants in order to reduce deportations, and to guarantee more job opportunities, so that people do not need to leave the country.

For his part, Mauro Verzeletti, of the Catholic Church's Human Mobility Pastoral, condemned xenophobia and mass raids, as one that took place recently at a company in Postville, Iowa, where nearly 300 Guatemalans were arrested.

Verzeletti noted the paradox that on one hand, free trade agreements proliferate, and on the other hand, the rights and dignity of humans are violated when they cross the border.

From January to July 2008, US authorities repatriated 14,994 Guatemalans, including 13,049 men, 1,493 women and 452 children.

Five flights are scheduled for this week to bring hundreds of Guatemalans home, according to a bulletin issued by the General Migration Department.

If that trend continues, authorities estimate that 25,000-20,000 Guatemalans will be deported this year.

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