Central America migrants disoriented by US expulsion flights

Hundreds of Central American migrants _ many families with young children _ expelled by the United States on flights deep into southern Mexico have been dropped this week at this remote jungle outpost on the Guatemalan border

EL CEIBO, Guatemala -- Hundreds of Central American migrants — many families with young children — expelled by the United States on flights deep into southern Mexico have been dropped this week at this remote jungle outpost on the Guatemalan border. They walk into Guatemala with children in their arms and their few possessions in plastic bags, pause to put the laces back into their shoes, disoriented by their sudden arrival in a third country in 24 hours. In part, that is the point. The new U.S. measure aims to dissuade them from trying to reach the U.S. border again. In El Ceibo, they find little more than roadside diners, a small, overwhelmed shelter and suffocating 100-degree heat. Many are not from Guatemala. There are Hondurans and Salvadorans. Some start walking south, hitchhiking or looking for a bus if they have money. The next small community is 11 miles (18 kilometers) away and in between is only jungle interrupted by ranchland. Others say they will head north again. “What we’ve seen here is the suffering of these people,” said Andres Toribio, who runs the Bethlehem Migrant Shelter in El Ceibo. “They don’t know where they’re being left. They don’t know what Peten is like. It is a huge territory. People think they’ll be in a city in 20 minutes, but Santa Elena is the closest city and it’s 108 miles.”