WASHINGTON - Israel Vail’s entire life in the small western Guatemalan town of Cajolá is built off the money that his three children send home from the United States.
The money from their construction jobs paid for the two-storey white home where Vail now lives — and where his children, who are in the US illegally, would also reside if they ever get deported. Vail, 53, invested some of the money in opening a local food shop, which he uses to keep his family afloat.
In small migratory towns like Cajolá, it is not unusual for the entire economy to be built off remittances, the funds sent by migrant workers back to their home countries. “People here, they don’t live luxuriously, but they live off remittances,“ Vail said. House Republicans have included in President Donald Trump’s big priority bill a five per cent excise tax on remittance transfers that would cover more than 40 million people, including green card holders and non-immigrant visa holders, such as people on H-1B, H-2A and H-2B visas. US citizens would be exempt. (The Gleaner)
