Nearly 700, 000 Guatemalans are living in fear of deportation in the USA as President Donald Trump launches biting immigration policies.
The country is also now preparing on how to welcome the deportees.
Most Guatemalans who live in the USA are running from the small and impoverished nation due a brutal civil war.
has a substantial undocumented population in the United States.
Aaccording to the Pew Research Center, about 675, 000 Guatemalans living in the USA were undocumented. That number is reported to have increased to slightly over 700, 000.
They are among the largest countries of origin for unauthorized immigrants in the United States, after Mexico, India and El Salvador.
Last year, Guatemala received around seven deportation flights a week from the United States, according to migration officials, which translates to about 1,000 people. The government has told U.S. officials that it can accommodate a maximum of 20 such flights a week, or around 2,500 people, the officials said.
In his inaugural speech on Monday, Mr. Trump promised to “begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”
Officials in Guatemala are preparing to receive significant numbers of their citizens.