US sends last flights to Guatemala and Colombia with deportees under Title 42

The United States sent the last flights to Guatemala and Colombia on Thursday, with citizens who were deported to their country, a few hours after the end the immigration measure of Title 42.

In the case of the Central American country, 260 returnees arrived in Guatemala from Harligen, Texas, and Alexandria, Louisiana.

Stuard Rodríguez, director of the Guatemalan Migration Institute, told the press that these are the last two flights entering under Title 42 and that, on Thursday morning, another had entered under Title 8, with more than 100 Guatemalans. .

“This goes on and on, and we are going to continue insisting on ‘no to irregular migration’, it is not worth it, it is not worth risking your life and even more now with the conditions as complicated as they are to enter the border of the States United, in an irregular manner”.

The Guatemalan Institute of Migration added that more than 14 flights have been received this week and that more flights will continue to be attended, which will surely arrive next week.

He also emphasized that it has “seen that there are organizational criminal structures, of coyotes, deceiving and saying that Title 42 ended and that they would be able to enter. It is totally false… Title 42 was a sanitary measure to be able to enter while the COVID-19 pandemic”.

When this measure remains, he added, work will continue under “express deportations, under the title of asylum, which is title 8.”

According to the Institute, from September 2, 2021 to May 11, 2023, 61,433 migrants were returned to their country, under Title 42.

Second flight arrives in Colombia

Colombia received, for the second consecutive day, a flight from the US, after the controversy that arose last week due to the suspension and subsequent resumption of flights before the complaint of Colombian Migration for alleged mistreatment of their emigrants.

“It was not a shelter because I keep insisting, that was a prison,” he told the voice of america Manuel Díaz, a Colombian who stated that he received “ill-treatment” in the immigration center where he was detained in the United States before being deported to Colombia.

“The last few days it was a situation of total uncertainty because first of all they had us separated from our families and they never gave us a reason for them so as the head of the family, as a father I was very anxious about my wife and my daughter because the situation in the shelter It was terrible because they didn’t let us clean up, they didn’t let me clean up for 7 days, the food hurt us,” she added.

In addition, the director of Colombian Migration, Carlos Fernando García, confirmed, after the arrival of the flights, some of the versions of the migrants, stating that “he managed to see at least one person handcuffed” upon the arrival of the flight to Bogotá.

“That this can serve as pressure for the Colombian government to end in much more serious negotiations with the United States for the sending and receiving of the rejected Colombian population,” said the head of the Colombian immigration authority.

On the other hand, in El Paso, Texas, a team from the VOA obtained other testimonies from migrants of different nationalities who they have been grateful with the treatment of the US immigration authorities, stating that “they have received good treatment, water and food” while processing their cases.

In that sense, consulted during a press conference on Thursday of last week, the US Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, said: “I cannot exaggerate the tension on our personnel and our facilities, but we know how to handle that tension. As difficult as it is, I have tremendous confidence and pride in our staff.”

Asked about the complaints made by Colombia, the US embassy in Bogotá did not respond to the request for comments made by the VOA for this report.

The immigration authority confirmed to the VOA that the flight that arrived in Bogotá on Thursday was sent under Title 42. Around 14,000 Colombian migrants from the North American country are expected to arrive in the coming months.

US immigration authorities assured that, despite the end of the measure, the expulsion flights of migrants who enter the country illegally will continue weekly.

[Con la colaboración de Liz Castrellón y Camilo Álvarez, desde Bogotá y de Karla Arévalo desde San Salvador]

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