The arrest of 11 Guatemalan migrants in Pomona, California, United States, on April 22, during a raid, and the Black Marea operation in Florida, where they captured another 437, increased the fear of leaving their homes to the nationals in an irregular situation. However, The need to go to work is stronger and there is nothing more than risk.
Alfonzo Pérez, president and founder of the Guatemalan United Alliance, located in Los Angeles, California, said that a week after the detention in Pomona, he traveled to the nearby city of Ontario, San Bernardino County, and observed that the streets were deserted and the warehouses, closed. That doesn’t happen on Saturday at 2 pm.
“Now people are more prudent to stay at home and not risk being arrested in a shopping center,” says Pérez, because the 11 Guatemalans arrested were in a Home Depot. They arrived at the place as day laborers, in search of work. For many, that is the only option to get some dollars to survive in the United States.
The border patrol arrived at the scene in private cars, which did not aroused suspicions among migrants, according to witnesses who recorded the arrest of 20 people, including the nationals.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINEX) reported that the General Consulate of Guatemala in Los Angeles has been in communication with the 11 Guatemalans arrested and that they have been given assistance and protection, through consular interviews. They have also had communication with their relatives and are provided with information on legal advice in their immigration process.
He added that the health of the nationals “is good” and that they have communicated with legal advisors in cases where they wish to follow a migratory process in the United States.
“The possible return date to the country is determined when the person signs their deportation order or derived from the result obtained in monitoring a migratory case,” said the Minex on the 11 Guatemalans, Six of them originating from Huehuetenango, one from Izabal, one from Quiché, two from Sololá and one from Retalhuleu.
Pérez informed that what he knows about the case is that they will be returned to Guatemala by air. “It is not known when, but deportation is in process,” he said.
Read also: MINEX confirms the arrest of 11 Guatemalans in a raid in California
In Los Angeles, the Latin community enters “panic” when seeing the agents of the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE, in English) or the Police, who mobilize in private vehicles. Then, the alarm runs.
The authorities reach places by a specific migrant; However, not finding it and finding anyone who does not have regular immigration status, capture it.
Although in the Angelina city what was lived in the state of Colorado has not occurred, where they arrested 150 migrants in a nightclub, Pérez mentions that there are rumors that Soon, business raids will begin in their city.
Day laborers were arrested in the US
🇺🇸 | In the last hours, more than twenty migrants, who were looking for work, were arrested in a edge of the border patrol in the parking lot of a store in the city of Pomona, in Los Angeles County.#Newsondemand pic.twitter.com/jh5de2ch5d
– News on Demand (@Endemand_News) April 23, 2025
More aggressive raids
Donald Trump’s government warned, earlier this week, that they raid them in workplaces will triple to stop and deport undocumented migrants.
“If we cannot arrest them in the community -their homes -we will arrest them in their workplace,” said Tom Homan, National Security Advisor and United States Migration Control.
As part of that attack against migrants in an irregular situation, the Black Marea operation was launched in the state of Florida, where ICE had the support of local agencies and agents of the DEA, the FBI and the ATF, among others. The balance of a week was 1,120 detained people, of which 437 are Guatemalans.
The MINEX reported that it provides consular assistance and protection to the Guatemalan detainees confirmed in this group of migrants, and that, through the Consular Network of Guatemala in the United States, it coordinates with the authorities to interview them shortly, to know their physical state and determine their immigration situation.
According to official information obtained by the consulate in Miami, the Foreign Ministry said The arrested Guatemalans were transferred immediately from the state of Florida to detention centers in Texas and Louisiana.
Miami on alert
Marlon González, a migrant leader based in Miami, points out that in the faces of the Latin community the anguish and uncertainty of whether they will be the next to be arrested are perceived.
“There is fear of going to work, driving the vehicle without a driving license. Even knowing that they can stop them, call migration, process and deport them, the need is greater, and it is daily. If they do not come out and lead to their work, they will not have money to keep their family,” says González.
Add the case of a Guatemalan who, out of necessity, obtained a false management license. The police arrested him and was sent to a court, which he attended twice to elucidate his situation. However, one morning, The agents were waiting for him outside his home to capture him at the time he went to work.
They did not give him time to communicate with his relatives or a lawyer; On the contrary, he was immediately transferred to Santa Isabel, in Texas. They are strategies that are using migration to prevent migrants from having the opportunity to seek representation, according to the interviewee.
“People are afraid to go to work because they know that they are at high risk of being detected and deported, but continues because the need to survive here is high. He who does not work, does not eat. They face the dilemma: either their children do not eat or risk working.”
Marlon González, migrant leader based in Miami
Due to this situation, campaigns are developed to inform undocumented parents who have children born in the United States about the importance of having their documents in order and designate a person as legal guardian of minors. This, in case of being deported and not wanting to take children to Guatemala, so that they are not unprotected.
They also seek to warn migrants in an irregular situation that they do not commit any fault, to avoid being arrested, and that they refrain from going to parties or visiting places where there are alcoholic beverages, because this exposes them to a high risk of being detected and deported. The recommendation is that “go only and exclusively to their work and return to their homes.”
Impact on the economy
Marvin Otzoy, a resident of the Guatemalan Fraternity of Northern Nevada, indicates that the fear of migrants to go to the streets has also impacted the economy. Sales in popular stores, restaurants and clothing stores have decreased.
“People no longer come out of fear of getting involved in an incident, to place a traffic fine or find themselves in any situation in which they cannot present documents that prove regular status in the country,” says Otzoy.
He points out that the rhetoric used by Trump promotes the idea that it is better for migrants to choose to return to their country, and that Any “false step” can be used as an excuse to return themregardless of whether they have family or children born in the United States.
Pérez, González and Otzoy agree that, despite the threats of the US president, “the need to go to work may be more than the fear of being deported.”
Also read: the Guatemalan community in the US
Self -portion?
On the possibility that Guatemalan migrants in an irregular situation choose to self -lead, the interviewees see this unlikely, because many made great investments to travel to the United States, so they will continue in that country “fighting for their families until the last day. Total, if they deport them, they will go, but it will not be for their own decision,” says González.
Meanwhile, Pérez has witnessed that more nationals have arrived at the General Consulate of Guatemala in Los Angeles to process their passport, as they intend to return to the country by their own means.
“I do not consider it a self -exporting, because one does not pass by a process, but are making the decision to return to Guatemala voluntarily.”
Alfonzo Pérez, president and founder of the Guatemalan Alliance United in Los Angeles, USA.
Need for more consulates
The noise generated by migrants in different cities in the United States has stopped the possibility that there are mobile consulates in the Nevada area, Otzoy complaint. This becomes a problem, due to the growing need for nationals to process passports, birth certificates or a consular registration.
“There are many people in need of identifying, because their passport expired and need it to advance in migratory or tax cases. They must present an official document of their country, but they cannot do it because there is no consulate in the area and mobile, this year, it is an uncertainty,” he adds.
The suggestion is to open a consular office in Nevada that can document Guatemalan residents. “Constitutionally, it is an obligation of the Government of Guatemala to provide these procedures to the nationals around the world,” he concludes.