U.S. paying for stay in country's prisons

 BY FRANCES ROBLES

 GUATEMALA CITY -- Forty-two migrants from India are crammed into a dark two-bedroom shelter outfitted with bunk beds, locks, metal bars and armed guards.

 The undocumented immigrants -- caught in Mexico in April and deported to Guatemala in August -- sit on a dirty mattress all day playing cards and wondering why they are detained in Central America. One killed himself the other day.

 Feeding and housing the migrants is expensive, but Guatemala doesn't mind because Uncle Sam is footing the bill.

 Acknowledging that the Indians were heading north, the U.S. Embassy pays the Guatemalan government about $8.50 per migrant per day as long as they remain behind bars. Since October, the embassy has spent $30,000 on what even Guatemala's director of immigration says may be the illegal detention of migrants.

 U.S. officials say it's a huge bargain because the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service would otherwise have to spend up to $12,000 to detain and deport each Indian migrant who made it to America. Last year in Honduras, the United States paid $173,000 to house and deport nearly 600 smuggled immigrants, an estimated savings of $5 million.

 But for those who are detained, it's a bewildering situation.

 ``We are not understanding this. Why is this government keeping us here?'' said Mitul Padel, 21. ``The U.S. tells Mexico, `Deport these people' and Guatemala accepts us? Our fortune is not too good. We do not have our freedom.''

 A brewing controversy surrounding Indian migrants in Guatemala City is the latest outcome of recent cooperation between Central American governments and Mexico, designed to stem illegal migration to the United States. Undocumented Central American immigrants nabbed in Mexico are no longer just dropped over the Guatemalan border -- now they get a lift all the way home.

 LONG-LASTING CASES

 But caught in the quest to bolster enforcement against Central Americans sneaking their way to America are people from other nations whose cases are uncertain and long-lasting. The Indians have been held in Guatemala for four months, after four months of detention in Mexico.

 ``Think about this: I have been in this room for four months,'' Padel, a computer engineer, said looking around the dozen bunk beds stacked in a tiny room that smells of unbathed men. ``We are not used to this atmosphere.''

 Officials say deportations of Indians and Chinese are often delayed because the home countries don't provide the paperwork necessary for repatriation.

 ``For us, it's a big problem,'' said Joe Banda, head of the INS office in Honduras. ``We're not here to make life miserable for people. Anything we can do to get them home faster, the better. It's the people responsible for getting their travel documents that are creating problems.''

 The United States and Mexico began paying new attention this year to the Mexico-Guatemala border, a transit station for hundreds of thousands of Central Americans. Mexico agreed to assign 600 additional agents to its southern border.

 ``As long as they are getting money from the United States, these countries are going to do as the U.S. Embassy says,'' said Carol Girón, an analyst with the Latin
 American Social Sciences Faculty, a regional think tank with offices in Guatemala. ``The United States decides it does not want Hindus, Arabs, Asians, so Mexico won't take them either.''

 By October of this year, 140,000 people were caught in Mexico, virtually all of them heading to the United States. The vast majority were from Central America, but 1,000 were from outside Latin America. Last year, 166,457 were deported.

 Although this year began as a record-setter, after Sept. 11 more and more would-be immigrants opted to stay home.

 ``The Mexican and Guatemalan governments have recognized the problem and come to our assistance,'' Banda said. ``We are working with the governments on this. We are not out here throwing spears and dragnets on people.''

 RECENT SUICIDE

 But the recent suicide of one of the Indian migrants has worried human rights activists, who do not understand why the Indians ever left Mexico: Officially, Guatemala is only supposed to accept Central Americans.

 ``I'm worried that they may be here illegally,'' said Guatemala's immigration director, Oscar Contreras, on the job for just a few days. ``Even if the conditions are
 acceptable -- which I don't know that they are -- it's never correct to violate human rights. It's my job to correct it and I will.

 ``We can't let another minute pass.''

 He said the American Embassy is concerned about the over-crowding and has offered to help find other lodging.

 Alejandro González, Central America immigration attaché at the Mexican Embassy in Guatemala, said stopping migrants is key to accomplishing another goal: quelling people-smuggling. Activists say the migrant who killed himself this month faced a staggering debt to smugglers.

 People from India pay about to $30,000 for voyage through Central America to the United States, González said.

 ``We have to control our borders,'' he said. ``This current administration has given more importance to the southern border, which has historically had a lot of traffic that was getting worse every day. Only drug trafficking moves more money and more people than the trafficking of people.''

                                    © 2001