Prensa Libre (Guatemala City, Guatemala)

Guatemalan strategy re U.S. immigration reform

Haroldo Rodas, Guatemala’s Minister of Foreign Relations, [Sec. of State] yesterday revealed the strategy that the country will utilize in the U.S. so that an eventual migratory reform in the country [the U.S.] might include 11 points which would make it “integral” for fellow citizens, especially for Guatemalans. It deals with a proposal reached in consensus with the networks of Guatemalan migrants in the U.S., which El Salvador joined to give it greater impulse. At a press conference, Rodas revealed that the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is aware of Guatemala’s proposal because he sent her a letter last August containing the 11 issues regarding better treatment of migrants.

Among other aspects, it seeks to make the migrants’ special protection mechanisms stronger, more flexible and humane, especially when the return to their country of origin may result in high risk, such as with the Temporary Protection Status program. [ A program granting temporary, renewable, legal status to citizens of certain countries due to political upheavals, including civil war, in their countries of origin, which results in high personal insecurity as a result of that political instability.] Rodas added that with the addition of more countries there would be better possibilities of advancing [the issue]. Besides El Salvador, it is expected that Mexico, Belize and the Dominican Republic will join Guatemala’s initiative, although the country is already lobbying.

Benjamin Monterroso, of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and coordinator of the Guatemalan Work Team for Migratory Reform, expressed optimism about the interest shown by senators and congressmen, such as Luis Gutierrez. Those present agreed that, added to President Barack Obama’s campaign offer to implement that reform, and the naming of Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, to be in charge of following up on the matter, it makes this a “good moment.”

The Chancellor stated that 1.5 million Guatemalans are to be found in the United States and that 60 percent – some 800 thousand – could benefit from the reform. Monterroso explained that if the migratory problem is not resolved before the end of May 2010, it will take three to five years to bring it up again, and he underscored the “279 Votes” campaign, the necessary number to approve the new law, that is to say, 218 congressmen, 60 senators and one president.

Eddy Garrido, of the National Council for Assistance to the Guatemalan Migrant (“Conamigua”), stated that the leaders of the organizations will themselves be the lobbyists who will promote these points in the American Congress.

Many thanks to:
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
Visit our website: http://www.nafbpo.org
Foreign News Report