内容摘要：in March to create red routes on Western Road and Queens Road, and make existing restrictions permanent.

in March to create red routes on Western Road and Queens Road, and make existing restrictions permanent.

Olga Romero lives near a town called Olopa in the north-east of Guatemala. She has seven children, two of whom are working in the US without any visas."This is a poor region where work is hard to find, and families often pay someone called a coyote between $2,000 and $3,000 to take them to the US illegally," says Olga.

A big problem is that to raise that amount of money many families need to take out loans secured against the value of their home. They can then lose their properties if the money isn't paid back.And that is often the case, given that the chance of them making it to the US is far from guaranteed, with the risk of accidents along the way, or being turned back at the US border.But the rewards are high. The money loved ones send back from the US is known as remittances, and these are propping up Guatemala's economy. In 2023 the country received $19.8bn in total remittances from abroad,

President Donald Trump has vowed to get tough on undocumented immigrants, and is threatening to carry out mass deportations .But it is not yet clear if he will make moves to limit, or even stop, H-2A and the other visa schemes for temporary foreign workers.

Vanessa García, executive director of recruitment organisation Juan Francisco Garcia Comparini Foundation, is optimistic that such visas will continue.

The foundation helps send around 200 Guatemalans a year to work in the US with H-2A visas. These are farm labourers who help to harvest lettuces, cauliflowers, spinach and beans.Both national and local issues have come up in this campaign, from tolls on local bridges and the regeneration of the high street to health, housing, the cost of living and immigration – with a lot of focus on a

Anthony Stonebanks, who runs a café and events space at the Heath Business Park, cites illegal immigration as one of the issues on his mind - along with facilities for young people and a lack of funding in the area.But his biggest concern is whether any party has the answers.

"I think working class people are sort of neglected, where it's like we're going to put all these things in place and they don't see it through," he said."Obviously certain areas around Runcorn are quite deprived. They look at these areas and say we're going to do this and we're going to do that…but they need to back it up."