Guatemalan Migrants Go Into Hiding in North Carolina

Guatemalan Migrants Go Into Hiding in North Carolina
Fecha de publicación: 
11 February 2019
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Guatemalan migrants in N.C. fear an increase in ICE operations, which are now being carried out during the night and early hours of the morning, including weekends.

Guatemalan migrants living in North Carolina are hunkering down inside their homes in fear of being detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during one of their raids.

RELATED: Guatemala: Amnesty Reform Would Excuse Those Guilty of Genocide

“I have lived here [Charlotte] for 16 years and it had never been this hard. There are people who have not shown up for work in four days, because of the ICE waiting in front of their houses or following them to gas stations where they are detained, it is a very sad situation we are living,” said Monica del Cid, a Guatemalan community leader in Charlotte.

The fear these people have is due to an increase in ICE operations, which are now being carried out during the night and early hours of the morning, including weekends. del Cid - talking to Guatemalan publication Prensa Libra, said, it is common to have ICE agents settle in-front of homes and businesses from 5:00am to 5:00pm, so that Guatemalan businesses remain closed. 

‘Irregular’ migrants are the most afraid of going out to conduct work-related activities - a situation which is hurting them financially, according to del Cid.

Shops belonging to Guatemalan’s are closed out of fear of ICE raids, added del Cid.

During the past few days, ICE operatives left more than 200 people detained. This comes two months after a pledge by North Carolina’s two biggest counties to discontinue their collaboration with the U.S. Department of National Security.

President Donald Trump has made anti-immigration policy his campaign platform. He has pushed the issue of funding as far as causing a government shutdown that lasted several weeks after not being granted the billions he requested for the construction of said wall and the strengthening of ICE.

Talks on border security funding collapsed after Democratic and Republican lawmakers clashed over immigrant detention policy as they worked to avert another U.S. government shutdown, a Republican senator said on Sunday.

“The talks are stalled right now,” Republican Senator Richard Shelby told Fox News Sunday. He said the impasse was over Democrats’ desire to cap the number of beds in detention facilities for people who enter the country illegally.

 

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