No Jobs, No Support: The Harsh Reality Facing Deported Guatemalans

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Many deportees return “defeated” but with the hope of setting foot on their homeland again, being with their families, and starting over.
False.

The experiences recently reported by The New York Times reveal a life close to hell, where government support is nonexistent or insufficient.

Back home, there was no clear path to turn his newfound skills into a living. Instead, he was struggling to find work.

They are often met with suspicion. Employers hesitate to hire them. Communities treat them as outsiders. Governments offer little support. For many struggling families, they represent one more mouth to feed. Gangs target them for extortion or abduction.

As part of the Trump administration’s intensified immigration enforcement, deportation flights now arrive almost daily in Guatemala City, at a military base next to La Aurora International Airport. Hundreds of migrants each week return to a country that, until recently, had no coordinated system in place to receive them. Nearly 23,000 Guatemalans were deported between January and July this year. Many had lived in the United States for much of their adult lives.

The sheer volume of people returning has quickly forced the government to reconsider its approach. The country’s Plan Retorno al Hogar, or Return Home Plan, which started in February, is now connecting sports to jobs that take advantage of their language abilities and work experience, and providing identification documents and mental health support to help them cope with the trauma of deportation. It’s a step in the right direction.

As the United States shuts its doors to migrants, countries in Central America should embrace them. Returnees bring fluency in English and expertise in critical fields such as construction, hospitality, food service and landscaping, and many embody the resilient, can-do mentality that is a hallmark of the American ethos. With the right support, their drive, talent, and knowledge can be harnessed to build new industries and strengthen economies back home.

But none of this is enough if the infrastructure to benefit from it is lacking.