By Allan Wall
01/22/2020
Guatemalans Protect Guatemalans In U.S. Immigration Courts
Just after New Year’s, VDARE brought you the horror story of a Guatemalan child rapist who might never be caught because of what the MSM Naples Daily News politely called a “language barrier.”
The latest from Guatemala City’s second largest newspaper, Prensa Libre: many Guatemalans who cross the border don’t speak English or Spanish:
If migrating illegally to the United States is difficult, it is even worse for those who do it knowing neither English nor Spanish, as in the case of thousands of indigenous Guatemalans who, pushed out by poverty in rural areas, have made the trip, despite the fact that they only speak their mother tongue.
[Guatemaltecos cuidan a otros guatemaltecos en las cortes de inmigración (“Guatemalans take care of other Guatemalans in Immigration Courts”), by Sergio Morales Rodas, January 4, 2020]
Translators of Maya languages are in short supply.
That’s right, "languages", there are various Maya languages. Guatemala recognizes 21 such languages; Mexico recognizes eight. So finding interpreters for an immigrant takes some doing:
Therefore, the “American Dream” of these persons is transformed into a nightmare when, upon arriving to the border, they don’t understand what the U.S. border officers say to them, many of whom take it for granted that being Guatemalan, they speak Spanish.
Pardon me for asking, but isn’t the American Dream for Americans?
To elaborate on the plight of Maya-speaking Guatemalan illegals, La Prensa found a translator, immigrant Aldo Waykan, whom the newspaper also described as a migrant leader. The illegals are clueless, he said:
This is demonstrated when the migrants arrive to the border and confront a migratory system not knowing about it. They don’t even know how to fill out a form, much less prepare to face an interview to apply for asylum.
In other words, they can’t peddle a false asylum claim. Activists are available to coach them, of course, but how many speak a Maya language?
Waykan also worries that unscrupulous lawyers rob the illegals. The lawyers charge as much as $15,000 to file an asylum claim but know “that type of client is not going to stay.”
As for the 16 Guatemalan consulates on U.S. soil, translators who work for immigration courts think the consulates must do more. Problem is, they’re geared for Spanish-speaking Guatemalans and don’t have enough Maya translators.
Recall La Prensa’s headline: “Guatemalans Taking Care of Other Guatemalans in [U.S.] Immigration Courts.”
How about if Guatemalans take care of other Guatemalans in Guatemala?
La Opinion Tells Readers Places To Avoid So They Don’t Get Deported
La Opinión, the largest Spanish-language paper in the United States, is openly subverting U.S. immigration law by offering tips to illegal-alien readers on avoiding capture and deportation.
That suggests that illegals and their supporters compose a significant portion of La Opinión’s readership.
The newspaper didn’t bother disguising its efforts — hence the headline over its article on January 12: Los lugares que indocumentados deben evitar ante peligro de deportación: “Places the Undocumented Should Avoid Due to Danger of Deportation.”
Current immigration policies not only focus on the deportation of immigrants with a criminal record, but anyone who has entered the country as an undocumented person is in danger of being detained and eventually deported.
The folks at La Opinión don’t like that, so they helpfully provided a list of places to avoid:
Post offices, expert Ezekiel Hernandez is quoted as saying, can be risky: “Even post offices are federal buildings, in case you commit an infraction they can process you under migratory regulations.”
And those aren’t the only dangers that lurk around every corner for the innocent illegal alien:
The experts recognize that some construction workers, such as bricklayers or electricians, even food delivery persons, are sent to federal property without the warning that they can be detained or reported to ICE.
One case was the Ecuadorian Pablo Villavicencio, a pizza deliveryman who was detained by agents of the military police and turned over to “La Migra” in New York, although the man was released after strong pressure from activists.
La Migra, of course, means immigration, which in turn means ICE.
A week earlier, La Opinión warned illegal alien readers to beware of exposing themselves on social media because ICE and the Department of Homeland Security are watching that, too:
DHS authorities have increased their vigilance of social networks to locate undocumented immigrants. Various reports indicate that immigration authorities implement strategies to locate persons who live in the United States without documents, principally on networks such as Facebook.
[¿Por qué las redes sociales pueden ser un peligro para indocumentados? (“How Can Social Media Be a Danger for the Undocumented?”), January 5, 2020]
The American MSM has also reported on that smart tactic. The New York Times, which recounted the tale of Gladys Diaz Tadeo, a previously-deported illegal who offered a pinata, made by her daughters, for sale on Facebook [How ICE Picks Its Targets in the Surveillance Age, by McKenzie Funk, October 2, 2019].
“The next day, an account on that social network with a ‘Hispanic name’ and the profile photo of a dog had responded,” as La Opinión reported of the Times’s account. Two ICE agents detained her when she arranged a meeting to sell the item.
Lamented La Opinión: “She was deported to Mexico 3 weeks later and the Facebook account that had responded to her ad was eliminated.”
La Opinión also recounted the sad tale of previously-deported “Sid,” as detailed in The Intercept [How ICE Uses Social Media To Surveil and Arrest Immigrants, by Max Rivlin-Nadler, December 22, 2019].
The Cliff Notes version is that authorities crosschecked his Facebook account with his California illegal alien driver’s license, then detained him after he registered online with Home Depot for a purchase. ICE was awaiting Sid after he left the store, and Sid was soon deported.
As Sid’s story illustrates, there is a downside to an illegal alien’s getting a driver’s license, from the point of view of the illegal lobby.
Chapo Guzman’s Daughter Introduces Chapo 701 Craft Beer
If you’re a fan of drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, you might soon have the chance to down a bottle of suds bearing his name.
As he languishes in the federal ADX Florence supermax prison in Colorado, back home in Mexico, his daughter, Alejandrina, has introduced an El Chapo craft lager [Marca dedicada al "Chapo" Guzmán incursiona en mercado de cerveza en México (“Brand dedicated to ‘Chapo’ Guzmán enters the Mexican beer market”), EFE, January 15, 2020].
She introduced the beer, which riffs off her Chapo 701 clothing line, at the Intermoda Fashion Fair in Guadalajara. Bottles feature the Sinaloa cartel chief’s image.
One hitch: The Mexican Institute of Industrial Property, which issues patents and trademarks, hasn’t given her a permit to market the beer. The name is similar to previously-registered beers called El 701, Imperio 701, and El Chapo de Sinaloa.
Why the 701? Because in 2009, Forbes magazine determined that el Chapo was the 701st richest person in the world.
A side note on Alejandrina: Authorities deported her in 2012 after she tried to cross the border with a false passport. She was about eight months pregnant and hoped to have an anchor baby on U.S. soil.
Under the current disputed interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, El Chapo’s grandchild would have been a U.S. citizen [Daughter of accused drug lord deported to Mexico, by Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN, December 20, 2012].
American citizen Allan Wall (email him) moved back to the U.S.A. in 2008after many years residing in Mexico. Allan’s wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archived here; his Mexidata.info articles are archived here; his News With Views columns are archived here; and his website is here.
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