GUATEMALA CITY, November 17 (Sputnik) – The US policy of deporting illegal immigrants is pointless, because many deportees are saddled with a debt that forces them to try migrating once again, several experts told Sputnik Monday.
"Many undocumented immigrants are deported from the US and Mexico back to in Central America. But, rather than going back to their towns, they often have to head straight back up north again," Father Carbajal, a priest and manager of a church-run hostel for immigrants in Guatemala City, told Sputnik.
"They face the same problems – a lack of jobs and other infrastructure – that they were trying to get away from in the first place," he stressed.
"Many of those deported to this side of the Guatemalan border are already in debt to the "coyotes", people-smugglers, who took them to the US in the first place. This is a debt that they must pay, so many deportees head back to the US immediately," added priest Father Ademar Barilli Barilli, who runs a center for immigrants on the Mexico-Guatemala border.
"We must invest more in the migrants and their families and less on the borders, security and the military. They must have the right and the conditions to be able to stay here in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador," Barilli underlined.
Central American immigrants without papers often hire people-smugglers, known as "coyotes" to guide small groups along an often-dangerous route from Central America to the US border. Prices have risen to as high as $8,000 per person.
The US spends $18 billion each year on drones, guard posts and other forms of border security as well as funding Mexico and Central American states to halt the flows of migrants headed to the US looking for jobs and to join relatives.
US President Barack Obama says he will use his executive power to push through changes to the US immigration system "before the end of the year". This is expected to involve temporary deportation relief to some of the estimated 11.3 million immigrants who live in America without papers.
