This CNN piece on some recent deportations to Guatemala seems to need a little annotation, so I thought I’d help in the appropriate places. Here goes:
Some of the returning Guatemalans had lived and worked in the US for years. Some were fluent in English. But they had all entered without permission or documents and so were subject to deportation.
Right, because they’re illegal immigrants.
But for the majority, they sat with snacks as names were called and temporary identification papers were handed out. “Undocumented” no more.
Right. That’s because, in America, they were illegal immigrants, but in Guatemala they’re not.
“It feels dangerous in the US now,” Tot-Botoz told CNN, explaining that undocumented migrants could be picked up anywhere.
Right, that’s because they’re illegal immigrants and, under American law, we aren’t supposed to allow illegal immigrants to stay, and the new president ran on not allowing illegal immigrants to stay, and now he’s deporting illegal immigrants.
Tot-Botoz told CNN for now she wants to get back to her indigenous community, about a five-hour drive away, and never leave.
Right. That’s good, because it’s where she’s from, and she didn’t have the permission of the U.S. government to change that.
Ambrocio, 35, who’d worked in construction in Montgomery, Alabama, seemed almost stunned to be back in Guatemala.
He was also angry, not comprehending why he was deported when most of the rhetoric from Trump and his team has been about sending violent offenders out of the country.
He was deported because he was an illegal immigrant who was wanted for trespassing.
“We’re not criminals,” he insisted, saying he did not consider his offence to be a serious crime.
Right, but he committed a crime in the United States, and, also, he was an illegal immigrant.
Ambrocio told CNN he would try to go back to the US. Legally, he said, he has to wait 10 years before applying for a visa, but he said he might try in two or four years, even if that meant travelling illegally and facing whatever the consequences might be.
Yeah, so that’s not allowed, because that would make him an illegal immigrant again.