Compas Guatemala

Outside the military airstrip where deportation flights arrive from the United States, families often wait for hours—or even days—unsure if or when their loved ones will emerge. Many arrive carrying debt, exhaustion, confusion, and the emotional weight of separation. Deportees frequently step off planes with little more than the clothes they are wearing, their shoelaces removed during detention.

Compas Guatemala meets families there with hospitality and presence.

Led by Casa Alterna’s Guatemala-based coordinator, Jacky Medrano—herself formerly deported—the program provides water, snacks, emotional support, detainee locator assistance, referrals, and compassionate accompaniment during moments of uncertainty and reunification.

The program is rooted in a simple belief: no one should return home alone or in shame. What began through relationships formed over many years has grown into a cross-border ministry of radical hospitality. By accompanying families at one of the most vulnerable moments in the migration journey, Compas Guatemala seeks to restore dignity, strengthen connection, and remind people they are not forgotten.