{"id":2195,"date":"2018-10-18T15:04:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T15:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/?p=2195"},"modified":"2018-10-18T15:04:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T15:04:56","slug":"my-thoughts-on-guatemala-why-is-illegal-migration-to-the-us-increasing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/2018\/10\/18\/my-thoughts-on-guatemala-why-is-illegal-migration-to-the-us-increasing\/","title":{"rendered":"my thoughts on GUATEMALA: WHY IS ILLEGAL MIGRATION TO THE US INCREASING?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regardless of the threatening speeches of Donald Trump about the resurgence<\/strong>\u00a0of immigration policies in the United States<\/strong>, nor the multiple warnings from the Guatemalan government that, without success, tries to warn of the risks of migrating to the north, each\u00a0time more Guatemalan citizens embark on a dangerous journey.<\/strong>\u00a0All this with the aim of crossing the guarded border, which, despite its barriers, still promises a better future.<\/p>\n

According to figures from the\u00a0Office of Customs and Border Protection<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0in the last two years, the number of Guatemalans arrested at the border trying to enter US territory almost doubled.<\/strong>\u00a0According to the agency, only in\u00a02017<\/strong>were the\u00a0Guatemalan<\/strong>\u00a0authorities apprehended\u00a042,757, a number that corresponds to almost half of all migrants<\/strong>\u00a0who tried to cross the land border in the year in question.<\/p>\n

Poverty, poor housing conditions and child malnutrition are the main reasons that motivate, mostly men, to undertake the journey. Which can end up in jail, deportation or even death.<\/p>\n

Guatemala is one of the poorest countries in the Latin American region.<\/strong>\u00a0In the region of the western highlands of that nation, the conditions for the inhabitants are more precarious than in the rest of the country. Data from the US Agency for International Development, they indicate that\u00a0around 76% of the aforementioned population lives in conditions of extreme poverty and 67% of children under 5 years of age are chronically undernourished.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this region, a large part of the population is rural and engaged in agriculture, but the decline in the prices of products such as coffee, corn, and beans has affected their fragile economies.<\/p>\n

In addition, more than one million families do not have electricity in their homes, drug trafficking and gang warfare. Circumstances that become compelling reasons to migrate without documents to the north, despite the evident efforts of the US government to prevent the wave of illegal immigration from continuing to increase.<\/p>\n

Coyotes vs. Government: Campaign War<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the US strategies to stop illegal immigration covers different actions and nations, in Guatemala<\/strong>\u00a0a special campaign is carried out<\/strong>\u00a0that with gigantic, radio and television ads, aims to\u00a0inform citizens about the consequences of trying to cross the US border without legal documents.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Statistics from the Customs and Border Protection Office indicate that at least 1.3 million dollars have been invested in\u00a0the information campaign that is also being replicated in Honduras and El Salvador<\/strong>.\u00a0In\u00a0addition, it is expected that\u00a0the\u00a0US In the coming years, it will have available 200 million dollars to be used in the creation of agricultural projects in the Guatemalan highlands,<\/strong>\u00a0which will allow the generation of jobs and poverty reduction in the area, which is the reason why national migrants mainly migrate.<\/p>\n

But these efforts have a counterweight that seems more effective for Guatemalans.\u00a0Coyotes and human traffickers also use radio advertisements, print advertising and even social networks to promote illegal border crossing,<\/strong>guaranteeing the arrival of the American union to any city.<\/p>\n

Government warnings that demystify theories such as ‘crossing the border with the whole family, pregnant women, or minors ensure entry to the desired country’, are no stronger than the promises of the coyotes, who also offer payment facilities, transport, and loan of money to the daring individuals who by thousands decide to take the illegal road to the United States.<\/p>\n

This war of campaigns between the government and the coyotes has even led to the US authorities offering rewards to those who denounce or deliver the traffickers of people.<\/strong>\u00a0However, as statistics published in a recent article in\u00a0The New York Times<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0reveal,<\/strong>\u00a0the community does not see coyotes as enemies, on the contrary, they are considered key elements and the only option for many to improve their lives.<\/p>\n

Under this scenario, while the US government continues to apply strategies to reduce illegal immigration within its territory, entire regions such as the western highlands of Guatemala are not intimidated by the measures and continue with the firm intention of penetrating the US borders to work three, five or ten years, and return to your country with a little more money to survive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Guatemala, there is extreme poverty overtaking more than half of the population. 76% of the population lives in conditions of extreme poverty and 67% of children under the age of 5 are malnourished and facing death. Most of the conditions that accompany living in poverty are what motivate people to make the journey from Guatemala to America. If people are willing enough to risk their lives for a better life, they deserve whatever they can get. But by taking the journey comes with risks like jail or death or deportation. Some people use coyotes – people smugglers – to get them across the border safely and under the radar for a price not as expensive as death. The US Government is trying to stop illegal immigration by immigration policies while Guatemala and Honduras are using radio ads to scare people into not leaving by mentioning the consequences of crossing the US border without legal documents. I think that the people who are leaving the area to avoid crime and living in deeper poverty and have legal documents should be allowed to enter the US because they have reason for a better life. But with some coyotes actually transporting people, some people use that for human trafficking. I just think that people with good reasons, legal documents and a will to live a better life deserve the better life they’re trying to get.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regardless of the threatening speeches of Donald Trump about the resurgence\u00a0of immigration policies in the United States, nor the multiple warnings from the Guatemalan government that, without success, tries to warn of the risks of migrating to the north, each\u00a0time more Guatemalan citizens embark on a dangerous journey.\u00a0All this with the aim of crossing the guarded border, which, despite its… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analysis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2238,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2195\/revisions\/2238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}