In this report, at least one Guatemalan immigrant reports that there is information/misinformation in that country and along the migrant trail that women and children will not be detained (at least not for long) if they are able to reach the U.S. Each case is different. In the case reported here, the mother is undocumented and she entered (or probably re-entered) the US illegally. This will probably make her deportable and she will have a difficult time avoiding that. The fact that she has US citizen children may help her case, but it does not insure that she will not be deported.
I have no doubt that immigrants or potential immigrants talk about experiences they have had or have heard of where women and children will be processed and then released and this makes them willing to take their chances at getting across the US border… Considering the conditions they face in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the choices they make are quite logical. -molly
Frontera List 