“The best way of dealing with irregular migration is not building walls but creating labor opportunities for people to work for periods of time in the United States,” he said.
“Because if we don’t create them, they are going to keep coming in through illegal routes. There are sectors of the US economy where we need foreign-born workers because Americans don’t want those jobs. And we want to know who they are, and we want them to be paid regular wages so they aren’t undercutting Americans.”
The year that Sical and his daughter traveled to the US border, fiscal 2019, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported apprehending more than 264,000 Guatemalans, including more than 185,000 people in “family units” – a parent or legal guardian traveling with a child – and more than 30,000 unaccompanied children.
Report from Guatemala
A Guatemalan father brought his 10-year-old daughter to the U.S.-Mexico border. He learned to regret it.
Families caught in the Trump administration s Migrant Protection Protocols faced hard choices. One man shares his story of defeat.
Story by Lauren Villagran | Photography by Omar Ornelas
Published
8:01 pm UTC Feb. 5, 2021
Editor s note: This story was produced by the El Paso Times and is being shared by the El Paso Times as part of a bi-national border media collaboration under the Microsoft-led Rebuilding Local News pilot program.
The night after their immigration court hearing, Francisco Sical held his young daughter in his arms in a freezing Border Patrol cell. She begged him to open the door.