Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently met with her Guatemala counterpart, Haroldo Rodas, in Washington, D.C. The video really just has your basic diplomatic pleasantries.
However, in the write-up of the meeting, Rodas reiterated the Guatemalan government's request that the US extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) benefits to its citizens living here in the US. In recent years, TPS has been extended to citizens of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Haiti. Several months have passed since Guatemala petitioned for TPS, providing all the necessary documentation to justify its request.
As time goes on, it becomes harder to see the US extending TPS to Guatemala. They requested it in June and nothing. There was no earthquake (Haiti and El Salvador). There was no single storm like Hurricane Mitch (Nicaragua and Honduras). Unfortunately, I think that this makes it difficult for decisionmakers to quite get a handle on the effects of several smaller disasters - tropical storms and volcanic eruptions.
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