A New Obstacle for the Migrant Population

On Aug. 6, following a meeting with President Otto Pérez, the Association for Central American Migrants announced that starting Aug. 10, the National Registry of People (RENAP) would launch a pilot plan to provide identification to nationals living in the United States. The announcement resulted in a fiasco.

Yesterday, at the last minute, they stated that the project was suspended. Everyone gave a different explanation. The chancellor indicated that “what we still do not have is the pilot plan of RENAP,” because the topic of who will be in charge is still in discussion. But yes, there is organization and logistics.

For his part, the director of the National Registry of People said: “I’m being told in a written note the need to postpone the start of the pilot plan. I can’t appear in the United States and I am unrecognized by foreign relations.”

That is, the government blamed the National Registry of People for canceling the proposal. The institution returned the ball to the Foreign Ministry, signaling it was responsible. In this case, it is not for us to indicate which of the two officials holds the right, but what is clear is that new migrants will be affected by the state institutions’ inability to comply with their legal obligations.

It is clear that for migrants the personal document of identification is a key document for all sorts of procedures such as obtaining a passport to have a legal document credited by U.S. institutions, especially now that immigration reform is drawing near.

This Saturday the pilot plan did not begin in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Arizona, as had been planned. It is still not clear what the cost of the personal document of identification will be abroad. It is said to be between $50 and $80 — a high price if one considers that in Guatemala this procedure does not cost a citizen more than 85 Quetzals, about $10.

As this demonstrates, these compatriots suffer a new snub, to which we add that the Department of Immigration still has not decided which company will be responsible for preparing the new passports.

The institutions mentioned must accept their mistakes; they are not complying with their obligations to care for the migrants that are, needless to say, one of the principle drivers of the country’s economy.