Guatemalans Against US
Anti-Immigrant Law
GUATEMALA - Guatemalan immigrant leaders are
fearing a wave of violence after the
enacting of a controversial law against the
stay of people without identity papers in
the US Arizona state, said the media in this
capital on Saturday.
This is part of people's reactions in
Guatemala and in the national community in
the United States, after Republican Governor
Jan Brewer's definitive support for the
legislation to come into force in August was
announced.
Prosecution, police abuse and racism in
Arizona and other states are the feared
consequences, said local Prensa Libre
newspaper.
Leaders of Guatemalan immigrants in the
United States regarded the measure as
unconstitutional, a direct attack, and
abuse. Guatemalan immigrants' main worry is
that the legislation creates a domino effect
and other states do the same, the newspaper
said.
Edgar Ayala, one of the leaders, asserted
that the legislation wants to push debates
to the right "and in the end, pro-immigrant
groups will be forced to accept any thing
they offer as a migratory reform." The
Guatemalan Foreign Ministry issued an pres
release soon after the Governor signed the
law on Friday, deploring the measure and
expressing the government's deep concern for
the threat it represents to basic justice.
Equally, the document calls to face up to
the migratory phenomenon with integral
measures, in full respect for immigrant's
human rights. |
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