TECUN UMAN, Guatemala — As migration advocates and opponents fixate on whether lifting the United States’ Title 42 policy will prompt a new wave of people crossing the country’s southern border, those providing food and shelter in places such as Guatemala struggle to offer basic necessities to vulnerable populations.
Deniyse Ramirez, a social worker at a shelter in Tecun Uman — a riverside town on the border between Guatemala from Mexico — said she had never heard of Title 42, a law used in the U.S. to expel unauthorized migrants. Her focus is meeting their day-to-day needs and providing social and legal services to hundreds of migrants before they cross the Suchiate River and head north.
“We’re so busy attending to the migrants, we aren’t informed about things like this,” said Ramirez. She added that she worries about the lack of such information among people on the move, like those who have already trekked hundreds of miles to get to the Casa del Migrante — or “Migrant House” — shelter.
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Title 42, a public health order from 1944, was used by former U.S. President Donald Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to immediately return migrants who had made their way to the country’s border. The law — which could be scrapped as soon as next week — doesn’t allow them to request asylum, and it has become central to the domestic political battle over immigration in the U.S.
Nicole Kast, the head of programs in Guatemala for the Catholic Relief Services nonprofit, is worried. She said local organizations are so involved in helping migrants find food and hot water to bathe that they are not prepared for the sheer number who may arrive if Title 42 is lifted. CRS — which supports migrant shelters like Casa del Migrante in Latin America — and other, larger groups are working to prepare for the potential flood.
And with the effects of price increases for food, fuel, and fertilizer, “we are anticipating a very significant crisis,” Kast said, which “could very well have an impact on what happens in terms of migrant flows over next six months.”
“On the Guatemala side, our partners, frankly, they’ve been much less engaged with the issue of Title 42,” she said, speaking from Guatemala City. “They often are so in the day-to-day struggle of managing these ups and downs … that they hadn’t actually thought through in great detail what this might mean for their own management and services. … That’s the challenge of the people who are at the front lines.”
But Title 42’s future remains in question. U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration aims to lift the policy Monday, arguing there is no longer a public health imperative to prevent the spread of infectious disease by migrants as COVID-19 cases decrease.
A group of mostly Republican-led states have disagreed. They brought a case alleging that the administration did not follow proper procedure to revoke the policy and that ending it would lead to thousands of migrants arriving at the U.S. southern border each day. A judge appointed by Trump has temporarily stayed the administration’s ability to lift Title 42, with a final ruling forthcoming.
Advocates for migrants say the law is being used as immigration policy, which was not the original intention behind the public health directive.
“Use of Title 42 to prevent people fleeing persecution from applying for asylum is a perverse misuse of a public health law,” a group of more than 200 civil and human rights organizations wrote in a letter to members of Congress last month. “There is no evidence that Title 42 will protect the country from future [COVID-19] variants and surges.”
Casa del Migrante — brightly painted and surrounded by high concrete walls with a locked gate, as Tecun Uman becomes dangerous after nightfall — prioritizes families and has a nightly capacity of 100 people. When large caravans come through, it can house up to 500 by spreading mattresses across terraces in the complex, which separates men from women and children, said Ramirez. There’s a play set for children in the courtyard, just outside the offices where their parents can receive psychological services.
Ramirez said she hadn’t heard migrants discussing U.S. immigration policy or whether potential changes may be motivating their journeys. But Julio Rank-Wright, deputy regional director for Latin America at the International Rescue Committee, said his team has noted specific examples of misinformation about U.S. policy as people make their way north. IRC has operations in six countries in the region, including an office in Tapachula, about a 40-minute drive into Mexico from Guatemala.
IRC staffers have heard some Venezuelan migrants — a population that is increasingly moving north — say that the U.S. border is open, allowing people to cross freely. But that is not accurate.
Larger NGOs operating in Latin America — ones with more resources and employees — can pay closer attention to the legal and political football regarding U.S. entry. International organizations, many with offices in Washington, have staffers analyzing changes in migration policy and how these may affect regional operations and the population that is seeking services.
“Having a team [in Latin America] constantly and permanently allows us to have a feel of what’s going on,” said Rank-Wright, adding that IRC works with a network of local partners engaged with various subgroups and populations.
Rank-Wright reckons it’s too soon to make a specific plan to tackle potential fallout from Title 42 for local organizations and their shelters.
“It’s something that’s on our radar, but we haven’t developed a specific strategy because right now … a lot of it is up in the air. And it would be very speculative to think that the end of Title 42 might trigger X or Y response [from migrants],” he said.
Even so, concrete information for people moving from shelter to shelter along the migrant corridor would be beneficial to everyone, said Ramirez. There is considerable misinformation about legal requirements for remaining in Guatemala and Mexico, and many people are not sure what documents are required to gain lawful status in those countries.
“They think Casa del Migrante can give them a document to use,” Ramirez said. She added that some even think the shelter can help them find jobs, misunderstanding the scope of its services.
On the other side of the Suchiate River, Fundación Ayabs — a Mexican NGO with an office in Ciudad Hidalgo in Chiapas state — is building a shelter outside of town to assist migrants once they cross the border.
The area has a visible presence of the Mexican National Guard, a body created in 2019 to help beef up immigration control. But it remains dangerous for migrants, who are susceptible to robbery, extortion, human trafficking, and sexual assault, among other crimes. Illegal commerce takes place openly, as people buy goods in Mexico to sell across the border in Guatemala at higher prices, transported on informal rafts that crisscross the river in plain sight.
“Our focus is — regardless of policy or the politics that are going on — to be in a position to be able to provide services that protect these populations.”
— Julio Rank-Wright, deputy regional director for Latin America, IRCHaidee Chong Martinez, deputy director of women and unaccompanied children in Chiapas at Fundación Ayabs, said her organization is too small to prepare for a potential increase of migration into Mexico if Title 42 were to be lifted.
“We lack the capacity for that,” Chong Martinez said, noting that her organization also observes a lot of disinformation among migrants. “They think that because they’ve crossed several countries — those in Central America are small — that after they arrive in Mexico, they’ll get to the U.S. in another half a day, when no, they still have to cross all of Mexico.”
CRS is working to strengthen shelters’ capacity so they can provide services even when the number of people seeking help is elevated, said Kast. This includes physical infrastructure to house more people, as well as strengthening staff capacity in sectors such as water, sanitation, hygiene, protection, and other technical areas.
It pre-positions packaged food and biosecurity products such as masks so shelters are prepared when the number of people increases. And the organization is considering a communication campaign in Guatemala to help migrants face “rampant” misinformation, Kast said.
“It's completely understandable, given the conditions that people are traveling,” she said. “Depending on what information they’re able to receive when they stop at a shelter, they may or may not really understand what the implications are at each point in their journey.”
Regardless of what happens with Title 42, migrants moving through Central America will remain vulnerable, Rank-Wright said. They are often fleeing conditions such as citizen insecurity and gender-based violence, and they are in need of protection. Displacement due to climate change is also on the rise.
"Our focus is — regardless of policy or the politics that are going on — to be in a position to be able to provide services that protect these populations,” Rank-Wright said.
Update, May 23, 2022: Since this article went to press, a federal judge blocked the Biden administration from lifting Title 42. The U.S. Department of Justice has appealed the decision.