- Title: Guatemalans look to migrate to the U.S. before Trump's inauguration
- Date: 31st December 2016
- Summary: SAN JOSE CALDERAS, GUATEMALA (DECEMBER 29, 2016) (REUTERS) RESIDENTS WALKING PAST AREA CHURCH VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS WALKING THROUGH VILLAGE, MANY WITH AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS OR FIREWOOD SMOKE COMING OUT OF A LITTLE CHIMNEY STACK COMING FROM A HOME WOMAN CARRYING FIREWOOD A MAN TRANSPORTING AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS WITH A HORSE CHILDREN CARRYING FIREWOOD AREA RESIDENT, JOSE BERNABE PEREZ, LEAVING HIS HOME VARIOUS OF PEREZ ORGANIZING TOOLS AND MACHINERY PEREZ DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) AREA RESIDENT, JOSE BERNABE PEREZ, SAYING: "Yes, I think it is going to be tougher to get in (to the United States). It's been tougher the past two years and it will be more so when Mr. Donald Trump is there. I think it is going to be a lot more difficult with all that he's said. We just have to pray that God touches his heart and that he can't go through with the threats his made, because they are threats that he's made to the Latino people." VARIOUS OF PEREZ PACKING HIS BAGS A VILLAGE STREET THE HOME OF THE LEADER OF THE VILLAGE COMMUNITY, OVIDIO OSOY OSOY AT HIS HOME VARIOUS OF OSOY DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) OF THE VILLAGE COMMUNITY, OVIDIO OSOY, SAYING: "No matter how many Trumps there are, it's not going to stop (migration). They might wait a year or two, but Trump won't be there forever. There aren't going to be all kinds of crazy Trumps there and there will always be leaders like that. No, there are always people who think that development in the United States itself depends very much on Hispanics." OSOY'S CHICKEN COOP VARIOUS OF OSOY SHOWING HIS BEAN HARVEST GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA (DECEMBER 28, 2016) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS MIGRATION ANALYST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS, CRISTIAN CASTILLO, DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MIGRATION ANALYST AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN CARLOS, CRISTIAN CASTILLO, SAYING: "No matter if they are Democrats or Republicans, they're approaching the issue of immigration in a very hard, very serious, very radical way. And the hope is obviously that with the change to a Republican government, there will be even more emphasis and more strength to fight immigration and deportations too. And this is one of the biggest concerns for these countries (in Central America). The remittances that come from migrants is one of the biggest motors for national consumption." ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA (DECEMBER 29, 2016) (REUTERS) GENERAL OF A BUS STATION PEOPLE WALKING TO BUSES VARIOUS OF PEOPLE GETTING ON BUSES BUS PULLING AWAY GENERAL OF BUS STATION
- Embargoed: 15th January 2017 04:09
- Keywords: Central America Guatemala migrants immigration San Jose Calderas United States Donald Trump
- Location: GUATEMALA CITY AND SAN JOSE CALDERAS, GUATEMALA
- City: GUATEMALA CITY AND SAN JOSE CALDERAS, GUATEMALA
- Country: Guatemala
- Topics: Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA0015F7PJ5V
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Central Americans eager to migrate to the United States say they are feeling pressure to get the move on before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20.
In the rural Guatemalan village of San Jose Calderas, some residents say they are preparing for the treacherous journey north despite warnings the border has become more difficult to cross and the threat Trump may quickly try to deport them if they do manage to cross into the United States undetected.
Trump won the November 8 vote in the United States in part by taking a hard line on immigration, threatening to deport millions of people living illegally in the U.S. and forcing Mexico to pay for a wall along its border with Mexico.
Trump's tough campaign rhetoric sent tremors through the slums of Central America and the close-knit migrant communities in U.S. cities, with many choosing to fast-forward their plans and migrate north before the Republican can take action.
Indeed, since Trump's victory, the number of people flocking north has surged, Central American officials say, contributing to a growing logjam along the southern U.S. border.
Trump's rhetoric has not gone unnoticed in San Jose Calderas which has a large migrant community already living in the United States.
Many migrants had settled in Postville, Iowa were deported after a massive raid at a meat processing plant where they were working illegally in 2008 ended with hundreds of Guatemalans being deported. Many of those were from San Jose Caldera.
But many more San Jose Caldera natives remain in Iowa, among them, Jose Bernabe Perez's parents who have lived there for several years.
Perez, who lives at the home his parents left with his wife and three children, is preparing to make his third attempt to reach the United States.
The first two times he tried he was detained at the border with Mexico and was sent back to Guatemala. This time, he hopes he will make it into the United States unnoticed despite hearing from other would-be migrants that it is now more difficult to cross the border than ever.
"Yes, I think it is going to be tougher to get in (to the United States). It's been tougher the past two years and it will be more so when Mr. Donald Trump is there. I think it is going to be a lot more difficult with all that he's said. We just have to pray that God touches his heart and that he can't go through with the threats his made, because they are threats that he's made to the Latino people," Perez said.
Perez is not alone. Many from this small agricultural village with dirt roads where people collect firewood in the forest to cook with say they are looking to the United States for the opportunity to work and make a living; something they say their community does not provide.
Community leader Ovidio Osoy was one of those deported in the 2008 Postville raid.
Now resigned to remaining here, Osoy dedicates himself to training area youth to be tour guides to take tourists to visit the nearby Acatenango volcano.
He hopes to be an example to them, but says he understands the attractiveness of migrating to the U.S., something he says not event Trump can stop.
"No matter how many Trumps there are, it's not going to stop (migration). They might wait a year or two, but Trump won't be there forever. There aren't going to be all kinds of crazy Trumps there. There won't always be leaders like that. No, there are always people who think that development in the United States itself depends very much on Hispanics," Osoy said.
Nonetheless, immigration expert Cristian Castillo says he expects migration controls to tighten considerably and deportations to rise sharply under the incoming Republican administration.
Furthermore, he says the massive deportation of Guatemalans and other Central Americans will be a devastating blow to local economies when the money sent home from migrant workers suddenly dries up.
"No matter if they are Democrats or Republicans, they're approaching the issue of immigration in a very hard, very serious, very radical way. And the hope (there) is obviously that with the change to a Republican government, there will be even more emphasis and more strength to fight immigration and deportations too. And this is one of the biggest concerns for these countries (in Central America). The remittances that come from migrants is one of the biggest motors for national consumption," Castillo said.
According to the United Nation's International Organization for Migration, close to 1.5 million Guatemalans currently live in the U.S., 60 percent of whom are undocumented and send back close to $5 billion dollars a year in remittances.
During fiscal year 2016, the United States detained nearly 410,000 people along the southwest border with Mexico, up about a quarter from the previous year. The vast majority hailed from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Trump or no Trump, thousands of Guatemalans are likely to continue to migrate northward through Mexico and to the United States as they flee poverty and violence at home. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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