Although Guatemalan migrants are citizens who have made an enormous effort to reach the United States and have the necessary means to survive and send help to their families in Guatemala, they have become the most forgotten by the State and by the candidates for the presidency of Guatemala.
This was stated by Dr. Úrsula Roldán, academic and migration specialist in an interview for Community Press in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press and Global Exchange, where he stated that only five of the 23 parties running for president on June 25 have made statements on the subject of migration.
In the context of the general elections in Guatemala, the expert explained that the Semilla Movement consulted academics on policies to be implemented with the migrant population, while parties such as Winaq, URNG and MLP approached migrant organizations, especially those of the indigenous population, in the United States.
"They were among the few parties that participated in the Presidential Forum organized by migrant organizations in that country, and they continue to generate processes to organize the migrant population in the United States," Roldán said, acknowledging that these parties are recognized as left-wing, center-left or progressive.
"We know that the CABAL party was also present at this presidential forum, but no one else was present after that," he said.
The doctor acknowledged that migrants, in addition to contributing to the country's economy and being one of the main sources of GDP, must be reciprocated with clear policies, not only towards the exercise of their Guatemalan citizenship in the United States, but also to be able to provide them with everything they need, such as the necessary documentation to be able to regularize their status in the medium term and to be able to exercise other types of rights in the American Union.
"It is important, and they should have the same rights as any citizen of this country. The State owes a lot to the migrant population," he added.
The specialist explained that the institutions of the Guatemalan State are extremely weak and are tainted by co-optation and corruption, a situation that does not escape the Guatemalan institutions established in the United States.
In this regard, he recalled that more than a year ago, the Guatemalan consulate in the city of Los Angeles was denounced for charging undue fees for passports, while there are also various complaints regarding the DPI (Personal Identification Document), which is essential for migrants to have any type of possibility of regularizing their status in the United States and also for any management they have to do, even from afar, in their country of origin.
He also stressed that there was a lot of demand from migrant organizations to establish a census, which ultimately did not turn out as planned, a much more numerical one.
«We have around 90 or 91 thousand people registered, we know that there are 800 thousand who have documentation in the US, but we know that there are many more than that. The last census that they just took out on remittances speaks of more than 1 million 500 thousand or 1 million 800 thousand; so it is always a small number that the consulates manage to reach given the distances and the little funding for the consulates in that country, in addition to their poor permanent relationship with the migrant population,» he explained.
In this regard, he said that the exercise of citizenship has to be a permanent relationship, where the needs of the migrant are met, one of which is documentation, and different problems that occur abroad such as the death of a family member, illness or imprisonment for a traffic violation, among many others.
"This is a permanent exercise in which public institutions have not had the capacity to have a presence close to the migrant population in that country."
After the end of Title 42 in the United States, he said that "unfortunately there are positive aspects, which could be regularization from the country of origin, and family reunification, and possibly the increase in work visas, without having to go to the United States, and avoiding that very dangerous trip. But there are other negative aspects such as the management of asylum and refuge that can put at risk the lives, not only of Guatemalans, but of all Central Americans and other countries that will be passing through the region."
Furthermore, he said, Guatemala would not have the possibility of contributing to the management of processing centers. "We have already seen the consequences in Mexico, many families stranded at the borders, in the cities of Mexico itself, surviving, because the states do not commit to providing work, housing, food, and the issue of requesting asylum cannot be addressed in a third country."
Although there is a possibility of processing the request for refuge and asylum from a third country, he said, it should be in those countries that have clear agreements and where there is collaboration on issues of survival while the migrants carry out their process.
"It is a risk for the country if this is established in Guatemala, the immigration processing centers that will also be established in Colombia, and it is said in other Latin American countries. The possibility that they process quickly and promptly, and that they can satisfy their demands is really low and puts at risk the lives of migrants who are fleeing due to some well-founded fear."
He added that deportation will continue to be a reality and "our country - Guatemala - is not prepared for the integration of these people who are leaving precisely because they do not have the conditions for employment and decent living conditions."
He also explained that reality could become more complicated, "we could become a third border. The United States already established one with Mexico, and now Mexico is establishing it with us, with the risk that people will be stranded without the conditions for survival."
«I don't think they - the candidates - are paying attention to this. Migrants are the last political issue in this country, and there are two perspectives: on the one hand, there is pressure from the United States to contain immigration, deportation. But, on the other hand, many are interested in continuing to have immigration to avoid the social demand for basic needs.»
Dr. Roldán pointed out that remittances support the economy and consumption in Guatemala, which is why there is a double standard when it comes to working towards more appropriate immigration regularization.
"A country in these conditions will only follow what the United States dictates and what benefits them in terms of impunity, and that is not what is wanted. What is sought is for the country to have the possibility, together with other countries in Central America and Mexico, to have a high-level negotiation to achieve regional immigration regularization and a possibility of regularization in the United States."
Although both political parties - Republican and Democrat - in the US have the issue of migration on their agenda, the specialist pointed out that the only thing they put on the political debate is whether the measures are much more restrictive or not, when they should focus on promoting immigration regularization.
Finally, he explained that there is concern on the part of migrants in the United States to have a link with their communities of origin and to be able to collaborate with their well-being and development, which is why they seek associative forms to be able to make contributions. However, he said that the State imposes limitations and bureaucratic processes so that the aid does not reach the places directly, but rather through the federal government.
This, he said, becomes a problem because migrants do not believe in the State as an intermediary, "because it has been seen that they have left a large part of the aid they send in warehouses. The government puts a series of obstacles in place to get the material to the communities."
«There is much to do. I do believe in local organisation of origin and destination. I believe that there are leaders who want to contribute to the country from the migrant population, but that we need to create those more direct links, avoiding the State for a long time, until we have one as it should be to create institutionality that allows that link without manipulation of resources.»
This note was produced in collaboration with the Organization Global Exchange and Community Press.
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