Additional aid sought for Guatemala volcano victims
In a warehouse next door to Guatemala Restaurant, cases of water bottles, toilet paper, paper towels, and canned food were stacked nearly to the ceiling - evidence of the massive outpouring of support for victims of the devastating eruption of the Volcán de Fuego in Guatemala.
The problem? As of now, the volunteers who packaged these supplies have no means of shipping them from Houston to those in need.
So at a Sunday press conference in the warehouse, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston) and organizers from FIEL, an organization that advocates for just laws for immigrants, appealed to local airlines and truckers to assist in efforts to deliver the goods to Guatemala.
“Right now we are concentrated on sorting [the supplies] because the outpouring of support has been overwhelming,” said Cesar Espinoza, the executive director of FIEL. “This is one of the warehouses that we have, we actually have another one that’s as big or bigger filled with stuff. The challenge now will be transporting to Guatemala, which is why we echo [Jackson Lee’s] request if there’s an agency or an airline or somebody that can help us in the process.”
Jackson Lee, a senior member of the House Committees on Judiciary and Homeland Security, also raised the alarm for the need for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Guatemalans fleeing their home country for the United States.
She plans to introduce legislation that would add Guatemalans to the request for TPS extensions for immigrants from countries ravaged by disaster and violence like El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, and Nicaragua, all of which had their TPS status revoked this year by the Trump administration.
“Disasters don’t make appointments and we’ve always been there to help our neighbors,” Jackson Lee said. “Guatemala is our neighbor, the border itself is at a crisis with people trying to come into the United States... We have to fix what’s going on there to receive these people that are fleeing a natural disaster.”
Jackson Lee said she believes both Democrats and Republicans would support her bill because the situation in Guatemala is less of an immigration issue than a humanitarian crisis. She added that while she was disappointed in President Trump’s actions on the international stage over the last several days, in which Trump engaged in a war of words with key international allies, she was hopeful the administration would be receptive to her request.
“Diplomacy is a key element of world peace and the use of language can show compassion or it can raise concerns,” Jackson Lee. “In the instance of trying to fight here for a better policy for the United States, the administration are the only negotiators I have and so I will continue to work with them to press for a humanitarian response.”
Grants of TPS are initially made for periods of 6 to 18 months and may be extended depending on the situation. Removal proceedings for individuals granted Temporary Protected Status are suspended.
Espinoza said they would start the petitioning process for Guatemalans to get TPS status immediately. There are currently 1.3 million Guatemalans in the United States of mixed immigration status. In the greater Houston area, Espinoza said, there are 80,000 Guatemalans, 40,000 of whom would qualify for TPS if approved.
“One of the big reasons we’re calling for TPS is if you deport folks back to a region that’s already devastated, the region is not going to be able to handle them and maintain it, and it will add more insult to injury at this point,” Espinoza said.
There is precedent for expanded TPS protections for nations suffering from natural disasters. Following a pair of 2001 earthquakes in El Salvador, TPS protections were extended to eligible Salvadorans who were present in the United States at that time. The Obama administration, like previous administrations, renewed the TPS designation every 18 months before the Trump administration ended it.
The Volcan de Fuego eruption, which began on June 3, has already killed at least 110 people, with an additional 300 missing. Official search efforts for the missing were suspended for the third straight day on Saturday amid dangerous conditions. More than 4,000 people remained in shelters after last week’s eruption and over a million people have been displaced from their homes.
Luis Xaim, a volunteer wearing a t-shirt that read “Guatemala Necesita Ayuda” — Guatemala Needs Help — said that he had family back in Guatemala who lived near a river that overflowed with lava from the volcano. He has spoken with some of them over the phone, but they are currently being evacuated from their village and he does not know when he will hear from them again. Xaim said he is hopeful that President Trump will grant TPS protections to Guatemalan nationals.
“Unfortunately a lot of people are not going to be able to go back [to their homes], there are still a lot of rivers that are no longer going to have drinking water,” Xaim said, with Espinoza translating. “So for people that have been displaced, people that have been suffering, the most immediate thing we can do to help them is to not be sent back to their country.”
Susana Oxlaj, a Guatemalan immigrant who has lived in Houston for 15 years and now works as a coordinator for Grupo Folklorico Chapines de Corazon, a nonprofit that teaches Guatemalan folklore and culture, was hopeful that the Trump administration would hear their plea, even if his track record on immigration suggested otherwise.
“Trump is a very complicated president,” Oxlaj said. “He doesn’t think from the heart, he doesn’t think about the union of families. He thinks very different. We try to give a voice and say, ‘Please help our country,’ but I’m not sure. But we have to raise our voice.”
@nickpowellchron
