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Guatemala inaugurates center for deportees with US support

Guatemala City, July 7 (EFE) .- President of Guatemala Alejandro Giammattei, inaugurated Wednesday a center to receive deported migrants in the Guatemalan Air Force, accompanied by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas who is currently touring Guatemala. (Camera: EDQIN BERCIAN)SHOT LIST:THE INAUGURATION OF THE CENTER TO RECEIVE DEPORTED MIGRANTS IN THE GUATEMALAN AIR FORCE IN GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMELA. Mayorkas, who arrived in Guatemala on Tuesday and depart on Wednesday, represented at the opening ceremony to the United States, which donated $ 1.2 million for the construction of the so - called "Reception Center Returnees" located in the south of the city from Guatemala.The center, coordinated by the Guatemalan Migration Institute (IGM), receive Guatemalans deported by air, mainly from the United States, which for nearly 16 months of a pandemic, since in March 2020 the first case was detected covid-19, it has returned more than 20,000 people.Giammattei said the center will have the support of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare for Guatemalans deported "achieve decent work" at home and avoid and try to return again to the United States.Giammattei said returning migrants, before administration, were received outside the Guatemalan Air Force by the same traffickers who had sent them to the US, as well as currency changers offered them "bring them back" to the North American country, an extreme that "prevent" with renewed Returnee Reception Center.Mayorkas, meanwhile, said the center "is evidence of the power of partnerships for the welfare of people, in this particular case, it will be for Guatemalans returning to Guatemala and how are assisted and reintegrated into their communities source".He added that the US is "committed to the migration patterns that threaten their families in the hands of the unscrupulous are completed" and said that "for every person who manages to reach the United States there are others who do not succeed" .Mayorkas visit to Guatemala for two days due seeking solutions from the US to migration issues.SUPPORTED INTERNATIONALThe center opened on Wednesday had the "efforts of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) , " said IGM in a press release.According to information shared by IOM, construction, furniture and equipment was donated by USAID and had a cost of 1.2 million dollars.In addition, the United Nations Fund for Peacebuilding and USAID added more than 64,935 dollars for furniture and related equipment cleaning and disinfection.The facility has a capacity to accommodate about 130 people per flight, as well as specialized areas for unaccompanied minors and two medical clinics, and other supplies.From January to May 2021, the United States deported 2,025 Guatemalans, mostly men, 83.9 percent less than the 12,575 migrants who have returned on a mandatory basis in the same period last year.During the two years before the pandemic, ie from January 2018 to 2019, Guatemala received just over 100,000 people deported by air from the United States, mainly from Texas.Each year more than 300,000 Guatemalans seeking to emigrate illegally to the United States in search of better living conditions, away from poverty and violence in the Central American country. IMAGES: SUPPORTS.