The general director of the IGM, Stuard Rodríguez, held a meeting with the US Ambassador to Guatemala, William Popp, and US cooperation agencies.
At the end of the meeting, Rodríguez explained that the goal was to reach “immigration agreements to know how we can take on this important issue”as is the large number of migrants who have arrived on national soil.
“They are willing to collaborate”stressed the official, while affirming that Guatemala has worked “very well” on the migration issue together with USA. and other countries, because it is a regional problem.
Rodríguez affirmed that the main concern is to attend to migrants with a humanitarian approach, but that, When this part is attended, they will be expelled from the country, if they did not meet the entry requirements.
“If they are older — of age, the migrants — we see what their immigration status is, if they do not meet the requirements of the IGM Migration Code they will be expelled from Guatemalan territory.”, warned the general director of the institution.
He stressed that this Friday there were several operations in the bus terminals located in the north and south of the city, he also supervised the shelter in zone 5, where several migrants are, and assured that they are in “good condition.”
They are fed and treated by doctors and psychologists, Rodríguez said. However, “tomorrow — Saturday — will not pass without them being expelled.”he emphasized.
looking for cooperation
The Guatemalan Migration Institute (IGM) reported this Friday, October 14, that manages international aid to address the growing migratory flows of citizens of various nationalities, especially Venezuelans, of the last days.
“There are the corresponding budget lines. Likewise, steps have been taken with international cooperation”answered the Department of Social Communication of the IGM, to the query of what is the budgetary situation of the institution to attend to these eventualities.
Regarding how the capacities of the IGM are in this sense, he indicated that “Coordination has been carried out at the inter-institutional level, with international organizations and agencies in order to strengthen the installed capacity” to provide comprehensive care to migrants.
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Migration indicated that after the pandemic they had projected an increase in migratory flows at the regional level, mainly due to the need of people to improve their quality of life.
He stated that the increase in migrants It has been especially from Venezuela, although a growing number of Cubans have also been identified.
According to IGM statistics, From January to date, 16,070 migrants of 36 nationalities have been identified and expelled from the country, of which 12,570 —78%— came from Venezuela. The rest of the migrants arrived mainly from Cuba, Honduras, Haiti, Ecuador and Colombia.
Regarding whether the IGM has short-, medium-, and long-term plans, the Department of Communication said that it is the Care and Protection Council, which brings together the different institutions related to migration issues, which “carries out the corresponding coordination to address ordinary and extraordinary matters, such as massive flows of migrants.”
He added that these numerous mobilizations is one of the mechanisms used by human trafficking networks to maintain their illicit income. “By managing misinformation based on rumours, they promote irregular migration, endangering people’s lives,” pointed out.
