With the 2008 presidential elections looming, one of the most divisive debates is over immigration. With each side holding strong views on how to solve the issue of illegal immigrants - or whether to do anything at all - two experts on immigration from Guatemala came to speak to the Boston College community.
This past Tuesday night, Ricardo Falla, S.J. and Ana Gutiérrez Castro spoke to a packed room about the rising trend of young, mainly male, Guatemalan immigrants leaving the United States to return home.
Falla gave an array of statistics to illustrate the magnitude of Guatemalan immigration to the United States, stating that there are nearly 1.5 million Guatemalan citizens living in the United States, with a large portion of those being young, adult males who emigrated in search of work opportunities. He added that since 2005 the rate of immigration to the United States had increased 14 percent, but recently this surge in immigrants has been slowing.
Falla attributes this retardation of the rate of emigration from Guatemala as an effect of globalization and an improving Guatemalan economy. With more opportunities to work in their home country, less young men feel the urge to leave in the pursuit of a job. The improving Guatemalan economy shows signs of further evolution now that more and more young men are deciding to stay. This demographic of young adult men is what Falla calls "Central America's greatest resource."
Aside from less emigration from Guatemala, Falla has noted a small increase in the percentage of Guatemalan immigrants in the United States deciding to return home to Guatemala. Once again, he has found that a large percentage of these immigrants are young men who are often married with children.
Falla said that these young people returning from the United States are key to the progression of their communities in Guatemala. He said that these immigrants returning home are "empowered by their experience in the United States and can be agents of transformation in their communities for better or for worse," adding that the new influx of return immigration is not only comprised of "old people who go back to die and have no impact upon their society."
2008 Woodie Awards
