In this May 30, 2019 photo, a portrait of Wilmer Josué Ramírez Vásquez, a 2-year-old Guatemalan boy who died in U.S. custody on May 14, stands on an altar at his grandmother's home in Tituque village, in the Olopa municipality of eastern Guatemala. Wilmer and his mother Hilda left home in March and took 22 days to make the journey to the U.S. during when he became ill in Mexico and crossed into the United States with a high fever and difficulty breathing. Diagnosed with pneumonia at a children's hospital, Wilmer died about a month later. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)
CAMOTAN, Guatemala – News of the deaths of five Guatemalan children in U.S. immigration custody in the last half year has reached the remote, sweltering towns and hamlets of eastern Guatemala. But it's not dissuading people from attempting their own arduous migrations with offspring in tow.
Ericka Gutiérrez in the small rural town of Camotan says the deaths are "terrifying." But she's been unable to find work and has no other way to pay the $5,000 debt she took on to pay a smuggler who led her on an initial attempt to migrate. So she plans to go again, taking her 6-year-old son.
The drought-stricken area produces an increasing number of migrants hoping for succor in the United States, despite warnings by President Donald Trump not to come.
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