Guatemala not ready for U.S.-bound refugees
Migrants already in poor country struggle while waiting for legal status
As tens of thousands of Guatemalans try to make their way to the United States every month, a much smaller group of Central Americans escaping violence and persecution have ended their journey here, seeking refuge in a country from which others are fleeing.
Until recently, they were an aberration. That may soon change, and the prospects are not good.
Last month, the United States and Guatemala signed a “safe third country” agreement, with plans to send thousands of Central American asylum seekers to Guatemala — one of the poorest countries in the Americas. For the tiny refugee community already here, it was an absurd proposition — and one that turned their experiences into a litmus test for Guatemala’s capacity as a safe haven.
Some have struggled to feed themselves while they waited for legal status. Others endured frequent threats and watched as their neighbours were murdered or attacked.
“We arrived here more than a year ago, and we’re still waiting for help. We don’t have work permits. We are still waiting for the asylum people to get back to us,” said Carolina Chavez, 29. She fled to Guatemala last August with her husband, Cesar Arauz, 32, and their 3-year-old son, Jourhen, after being attacked by Nicaraguan security forces for participating in an anti-government protest.
In the past year, Guatemala has received 226 asylum claims. Of those, not a single one has been processed, according to the government. The country’s asylum agency has eight employees.
Between October 2018 and July, about 300,000 Salvadorans and Hondurans travelled through Guatemala on their way to the U.S. border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. Even if only a fraction of them are sent to Guatemala to apply for refuge, it would increase the number of asylum applications here by a large multiple.
It is a challenge impoverished Guatemala is not prepared to handle, said Alejandro Giammattei, the country’s presidentelect. “If we do not have the capacity for our own people, just imagine other people,” said Giammattei, who has been critical of the safe third country agreement. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees typically helps asylum seekers pay for their first three months of rent, but then they are left largely on their own. Without work permits — and even with them — they often fail to find jobs. That has left some homeless or only able to afford apartments in Guatemala City’s most dangerous neighbourhoods, known as zones rojas, or red zones.
Many asylum seekers said they felt safer here than in their native countries. Those threatening them at home had not followed them to Guatemala, they said. But finding work and shelter — and receiving formal asylum status — was so difficult that they faced a range of new threats after arriving.
Most could think of only one solution: to leave Guatemala. In recent years, a large number of asylum seekers have abandoned their cases before they were resolved.
For several months, after their UN stipend ran out, Chavez and Arauz stayed in an unfinished apartment building without a door on the edge of Guatemala City. One night, their neighbour, who was also squatting in the building, was murdered. They could hear the screams through the wall.
The couple moved out. Eventually, they found a room they could rent for about $130 per month. But to afford that expense, the family sometimes goes days without food.
“What we see here is that asylum seekers and refugees are basically ignored. They are not given what they need to live with any kind of dignity,” said Juan Luis Carbajal from the Ministry of Human Mobility, which works with UNHCR to provide for the country’s pool of asylum seekers.
The United Nations is concerned about how Guatemala’s refugee agency would handle a sudden surge of new cases.
“There is clearly a lot of work that remains to be done for Guatemala’s asylum system to be able to provide full protection and inclusion for asylum seekers. The related institutions have only had to deal with a very limited number of asylum seekers to date,” said Giovanni Bassu, UNHCR’s regional representative.
Officials at the Guatemalan asylum agency said they had not been informed about how the agency would adapt to a surge in cases.
Acting U.S. Homeland Security secretary Kevin McAleenan said this month that the agreement would be “a phased and measured approach to implementation that will not overwhelm Guatemalan resources and will be supported by U.S.funded international organization capacity.”
DHS officials have said the policy would begin with the return of single men, before single women and families are included in the plan. Privately, U.S. officials say they think that many Central Americans will choose to return home instead of applying for asylum in Guatemala.
“If the government can’t make it work for 400 people, how are they going to do it for 25,000?” Carbajal said.