The Fight Should Not Be Abandoned
Migrant organizations and officials in the U.S., as well as analysts and ex-government officials, have urged the Otto Pérez administration to define a clear strategy to fight for Temporary Protection Status for the hundreds of thousands of Guatemalan nationals residing in the U.S. who do not yet have their papers in order.
The call to action arrived following Chancellor Fernando Carrera’s announcement that the fight for TPS would be suspended in order to concentrate on the coming migration reform that President Barack Obama is pushing.
This revelation upset migrants and, just yesterday, President Pérez made it clear that the fight for TPS has not been filed away and his government will continue to advocate for this special status.
There is no question that the efforts to achieve TPS cannot be abandoned. Achieving this objective is vital not just for illegal immigrants, but also for the country’s economy and for countless families, particularly in rural areas, who benefit from the money sent monthly from North American soil.
According to the International Organization for Migration, around 70 percent of the 1.5 million Guatemalans living in the U.S. are there illegally. In other words, if TPS were achieved, more than 900,000 Guatemalan nationals could work and reside there under the law, free from the worries of being captured and deported by the migratory authorities.
Aside from that, TPS would even allow an increase in the number of remittances, given that our compatriots could search for better jobs without fear of being captured.
In 2011, Guatemala received more than 37.6 billion GTQ from remittances, a substantial sum of money that allows the economy to be revitalized and the quality of life to be improved for tens of thousands of families.
On top of that, TPS would also slow down the wave of immigrants given that every citizen who has not broken the law could aspire to have a temporary work and residency status.
Many of those who are deported (almost 40,000 last year) embark once again on the path to achieving the American dream, for which they risk their lives when making their way across dangerous Mexican territory, overrun by gangs of kidnappers, extortionists and drug traffickers who also profit from migrant lives.
This is why the Pérez administration is being urged to push forward in the fight for TPS and to instruct their foreign political partners to remain consistent. The hundreds of thousands of migrants deserve it.
The call to action arrived following Chancellor Fernando Carrera’s announcement that the fight for TPS would be suspended in order to concentrate on the coming migration reform that President Barack Obama is pushing.
This revelation upset migrants and, just yesterday, President Pérez made it clear that the fight for TPS has not been filed away and his government will continue to advocate for this special status.
There is no question that the efforts to achieve TPS cannot be abandoned. Achieving this objective is vital not just for illegal immigrants, but also for the country’s economy and for countless families, particularly in rural areas, who benefit from the money sent monthly from North American soil.
According to the International Organization for Migration, around 70 percent of the 1.5 million Guatemalans living in the U.S. are there illegally. In other words, if TPS were achieved, more than 900,000 Guatemalan nationals could work and reside there under the law, free from the worries of being captured and deported by the migratory authorities.
Aside from that, TPS would even allow an increase in the number of remittances, given that our compatriots could search for better jobs without fear of being captured.
In 2011, Guatemala received more than 37.6 billion GTQ from remittances, a substantial sum of money that allows the economy to be revitalized and the quality of life to be improved for tens of thousands of families.
On top of that, TPS would also slow down the wave of immigrants given that every citizen who has not broken the law could aspire to have a temporary work and residency status.
Many of those who are deported (almost 40,000 last year) embark once again on the path to achieving the American dream, for which they risk their lives when making their way across dangerous Mexican territory, overrun by gangs of kidnappers, extortionists and drug traffickers who also profit from migrant lives.
This is why the Pérez administration is being urged to push forward in the fight for TPS and to instruct their foreign political partners to remain consistent. The hundreds of thousands of migrants deserve it.