The arrival of the body of a 15-year-old boy who died trying to immigrate to the US served as just another reminder of the dangers involved in the perilous journey so many migrants from Central America try to make each year. Gadi Schwartz reports from Guatemala City for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Friday, July 11, 2014.
For the families waiting at a Guatamala City airport for the return of their deported relatives, not every reunion is a happy one.
Francisco Ramos, a Guatemalan corn farmer, carries a picture of his 15-year-old son while he he waits for the boy's casket to arrive.
Gilberto Francisco Ramos Juarez was on his way to Chicago to join his brother and find work so that he could help pay his mother's medical bills, before he died in a Texas desert.
The boy's father said he tried to convince Gilberto not to go, but was unable to, and in the end, borrowed $2000 to pay the "coyotes".
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The family is still paying off the debt.
The boys uncle said Gilberto's parents should tell others that the trip is too dangerous and that minors should not go.
"Menores no se puedes ir para ya," Juarez's uncle said.
The father said that now Gilberto is back, he hopes his other son will raise enough money to come and visit his brother's grave.
On the other side of the airport a woman weilded the identification card of her sister who she has not heard from in two months.
She said the "coyote" who transported her sister, told her that she was picked up by Border Patrol. But there is no record of her ever being in a United States detention center.
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The woman said she will come to the airport everyday and that they are looking everywhere for her, "La he buscando entodos lados."
