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Washington, D.C. (June 1, 2023) – The Guatemalan Highlands have a low homicide rate and strong family and community structure. For those in this region, immigration to the United States is an economic decision and usually means paying smugglers to send a teenage family member to find a job and sending money home – in the past couple of years under the guise of seeking asylum. But the strong appeal of migration northward has had a staggering impact on communities, destabilizing the family structure, putting the minors in harm’s way, and causing financial harm.
Dr. David Stoll, a professor of anthropology at Middlebury College, has spent decades doing field research in Guatemala in the Mayan town of Nebaj. He has documented the migration stream to the United States from 1997-2005 and the crushing impact of the collapse of jobs in the U.S. in 2006. The U.S. jobs had been the only hope for most to pay back the high-interest smuggler loans. The result was a devastating town financial crash that included many families losing their homes.
Stoll and Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director and host of Parsing Immigration Policy, discuss the U.S. policies and loopholes that encourage Guatemalan families to send their work-ready teenagers to the U.S., as described in Stoll’s recent article, “Why Are Underage Central Americans in US Factories?” |
