The United States is conducting immigration raids in cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Phoenix, and news reports show many arrested are nonviolent offenders or people whose only offense is unauthorized entry.
For the past few weeks, U.S. Air Force planes full of migrants wearing handcuffs have entered Guatemala almost daily. Two young women, Lesbia Pérez and Yoharis Reyes, arrived on February 6 in Guatemala City on a flight carrying 103 people, 85 men and 18 women, from Harlingen, Texas.
“The experience was terrifying; they kept you handcuffed all the time and shouted words that we couldn’t understand because it was in English, and they forget that you are a human being,” said Pérez, an 18-year-old who migrated to United States in November 2020 after a relative told her about better job opportunities there. She had an aunt in Los Angeles.
They forget that you are a human being
Yoharis Reyes
“I spent a lot of time hungry, cold and mistreated. This is the first decent meal I have received in several days,” said Reyes, a 23-year-old single mother who left to seek employment and live with relatives in New York City.
Think Global Health met the pair during a tour at the Returnees Reception Center, established by the Guatemalan Institute of Migration inside the Guatemala Air Force. Flights from the United States and Mexico land with immigrants in this space. Upon arrival, deportees are called by their full name and must fill out identification paperwork. Here, authorities provide them with a meal and transportation by bus to a central plaza or a temporary shelter, where they remain for 24 to 72 hours.