Thread: Guatemalan deportations reach record

Guatemalan deportations reach record as Congress struggles with illegal immigration
Guatemalan president has asked the U.S. to grant Temporary Protected Status to Guatemalans in the U.S. while home country rebuilds after heavy flooding caused widespread devastation earlier this year.

The number of Guatemalans deported from the United States reached a record last week only a day before the Senate rejected the DREAM Act that would allow young illegal immigrants to avoid being sent home.


By Dec. 17, the number of deported Guatemalans reached 28,160, beating last year’s figure of 28,051.

The record deportations are being assailed in the Guatemalan news media, where the Guatemalan news service Prensa Libre said, “They return after having seen their hopes for a better life cut off in that country.

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom recently asked the U.S. government to grant Temporary Protected Status to Guatemalans in the United States while their home country rebuilds after heavy flooding caused widespread devastation earlier this year.

So far, the U.S. government has not responded to the request.

The Guatemalan Foreign Ministry estimates 1.5 million Guatemalans live in the United States, 60 percent of them illegal immigrants.

Census figures show the country’s population at 12.6 million.

The number of Guatemalans deported has been increasing steadily in the past seven years as the U.S. government cracks down on illegal immigration.

In 2004, only 7,029 Guatemalans were deported, according to Guatemala’s Directorate General of Migration.

Money sent home by Guatemalan immigrants, called remittances, make up 10 percent of the country’s economy.

In the first 11 months of this year, the remittances totaled about $3.8 million, according to the Bank of Guatemala.

Last year during the same period, the remittances totaled $3.6 million.

As U.S. outrage about illegal immigration continues, the Senate rejected a measure Saturday to allow immigrants who were brought illegally to the United States as children to remain.

The House passed the DREAM Act but a Republican filibuster succeeded in blocking it by a 55 to 41 margin.

President Obama said in a statement that the Senate vote was “incredibly disappointing.â€

U.S. government cracks down on illegal immigration.
This is a joke right?

What's up with the wide screen!

What did you do!

Too bad they have not got the ones working maintenance at my condo complex. I have called ICE on them.

Get em' girl!