The Los Angeles City Council recently passed a resolution that calls for the legal protection of Guatemalans, a move that immigrant rights advocates say marks the beginning of a larger campaign to encourage other cities to do the same.
With this resolution — which the City Council unanimously approved on Wednesday, June 5 — the city of L.A. declares its support for any federal action, legislative or administrative, that would grant Temporary Protected Status for Guatemala and provide TPS benefits to all Guatemalans living in the U.S. The city will send its resolution to President Joe Biden.
While this endorsement is largely symbolic, Jocelyn Duarte — a professor of Central American Studies at East Los Angeles College — said the resolution lends further credibility to the Guatemalan diaspora’s fight for protected status.
Duarte, who is Guatemalan and Salvadoran, said this is critical given that L.A. is home to the largest Guatemalan community outside of Guatemala, according to the resolution, which states that there are about 286,000 Guatemalans in L.A. County with more than 157,000 in the city.
“It’s important for a city like Los Angeles to recognize the importance of TPS and have our voices heard at the federal level,“ Duarte told Boyle Heights Beat.
Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, allows specific nationality groups displaced by armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other life-altering conditions to temporarily reside in the U.S. for 18 months, which can be renewed indefinitely.
There are currently 16 countries with TPS status, including the Central American nations of El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
Groups like the bipartisan political organization FWD.us called on the Biden administration in November 2023 to protect Guatemalans in the U.S. through TPS, noting that attacks on human rights defenders, women, Indigenous people, and others resisting armed groups are daily occurrences. It also stated that Guatemala is in the “Dry Corridor,” and faces “great risk of environmental disaster.” In 2020, Hurricanes Eta and Iota caused floods and destruction in Guatemala and across Central America.
Guatemalans are one of the ten largest U.S. immigrant groups, according to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute using U.S. Census data. A decades-long civil war, which ended in 1996, led to an influx of Guatemalan migration to the U.S. Data show that recent droughts and homicide rates in Central America have contributed to Guatemalan migration.
Councilmember Kevin de León, who is of Guatemalan descent and who co-authored the resolution with Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, said the city’s declaration of support is crucial because Guatemalans still don’t have the same legal protections as other immigrant groups. It’s “unjust and disrespectful,” he told Boyle Heights Beat.
The resolution comes on the heels of Biden’s latest executive order to limit asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border, many of whom are from Guatemala. De León called Biden’s order “greatly upsetting,” acknowledging the failure of multiple presidential administrations to alleviate the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Movimiento Guatemalteco, a coalition of Central American-led organizations that includes Red Migrante and the Salvadoran Leadership and Educational Fund (SALEF), was responsible for presenting De León with this proposal.
Duarte, who also serves as the executive director of the Salvadoran Leadership and Educational Fund, said L.A.’s approval of the resolution is the start of a larger grassroots campaign to get U.S. cities to pass similar resolutions advocating for TPS for Guatemalans. Duarte said they are currently identifying future cities to work with.
People associated with Movimiento Guatemalteco are also collecting online signatures in support of TPS for Guatemalans. The hope is that they will garner enough attention to convince other local governments to follow L.A.’s lead, Duarte said.
“For the city with a large body of Guatemalans to have their councilmembers and mayor supporting them, I think that will make an impact. I think [Guatemalan] people are scared to speak out because of the Biden situation, so this is making a stand,” Duarte said.
The Guatemalan population in L.A. has traditionally made their home in the city’s Westlake, Pico-Union, and Koreatown neighborhoods. In recent years, however, Duarte said she has seen more Guatemalans living on the Eastside. Duarte said ELAC’s Central American Studies program was founded partly to accommodate this growing population.
“In the two years since we’ve provided the major, there has been an increase of students self-identifying as Salvadoran or Guatemalan and trying to build that community [on campus],” Duarte said.
The Chicana(o) Studies Department oversees the program and Duarte said they are currently discussing ways to better assist the Central American student population, such as creating a mentorship program that pairs them with faculty members who are part of the Central American diaspora.
Emily Grijalva, a school coordinator at Felicitas & Gonzalo Mendez High School, said she began seeing an increase in Guatemalan students in Boyle Heights in 2014. Grijalva, who is Guatemalan and Salvadoran, started her teaching career 18 years ago at Hollenbeck Middle School and said the Central American student population in Boyle Heights was small. “I remember there being not many so I would get excited when we found out a student was Central American,” Grijalva said.
As a school coordinator, Grijalva works to ensure Central American students acclimate to life in Boyle Heights.
Language barriers are an issue, Grijalva said, adding that numerous students identify as Mayan and speak their native language. Spanish is their second language, she said.
When newly arrived immigrants register at Mendez, they are greeted by an English Learner coordinator, a counselor, and a Communities in Schools representative who will assess student needs.
As Mendez serves newly arrived Guatemalan students, Grijalva believes a TPS designation would benefit them.
“TPS is important because I feel like Central Americans are fleeing their countries for valid reasons. I do think they face danger or death if they go back, so any type of immigration reform that understands and exposes what [factors] are causing immigration is so important,” Grijalva said.
While TPS does not legally provide a pathway to citizenship, De León thinks it’s a step in the right direction.
“It’s absurd that their status has not been normalized to become a legal resident. It’s not a complex issue, it’s not difficult,” De León said.
Thank you very much for this report!
We need to hear more about this movement because there are a lot of Guatemalans who still don’t know about this plan and this is a great way to let more people know about it !