GUATEMALA CITY -- Marta Munoz-Lopez strode through the room with a steely determination, her voice booming with the passion of an evangelical minister.

"You bring a gift. Do you know what that gift is?" she shouted in Spanish at a group of 106 men and six women, who, just moments before, had been in the custody of U.S. immigration officials.

"Freedom!" one man yelled.

"The gift is life, señores," Ms. Munoz-Lopez replied. "With a life you can do marvels."

The crowd, seated in plastic chairs in a hall at Guatemala City's main airport last month, cheered loudly.

Every day, the Guatemalan government receives hundreds of its citizens who have been deported from the United States, most often on flights chartered by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Ms. Munoz-Lopez, a Guatemalan immigration inspector, serves as a motivational speaker for her returning countrymen, including many who haven't been home in years and now face dismal economic prospects.

Her workload has continued to expand in recent years.

In 2005, the U.S. government deported 7,100 Guatemalans. Last year, that number reached 26,400, according to ICE figures, and it is likely to reach a new high this year.

About five to seven flights carrying deportees land in Guatemala City every week, said Jenaro Morales, ICE's assistant attaché at the U.S. Embassy in the country.

On the afternoon of Oct. 30, two planes touched down within minutes of each other, one coming from Mesa, Ariz., and the second from Harlingen, Texas. A day earlier, the Texas plane had transferred 107 Mexicans from Harrisburg to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Those Mexicans were replaced by the group of 112 Guatemalans, who were being held at the Willacy Detention Center in Texas. Unlike the Mexicans, who all wore shackles during their flight, most of the Guatemalans did not have criminal records and were not handcuffed during their flight home.

Among the passengers was Gerson Gomez, 25, who had been arrested when police stopped his vehicle Sept. 6 in Allentown, Lehigh County.

Mr. Gomez, from a town near Guatemala City, first came north in 2005, after paying a smuggler more than $5,000 to help him navigate the overland journey through Mexico to the U.S. border. A friend already in the United States lent him the money.

The treacherous trip lasted nearly a month. In Mexico City, knife-wielding robbers took all his money, and he worked for a week in an auto repair shop to raise enough cash to continue.

At the border, he and a group of fellow migrants crossed a mountain range to avoid border patrol agents. The hike took eight days.

"One bad step, you lose your life," he said in Spanish.

In the United States, Mr. Gomez lived in Los Angeles and Connecticut before settling in Allentown, where he worked for a landscaping company.

During the 21/2-hour flight home last month, he said he was excited to see his family again, but he wants to return to Pennsylvania. He said his former boss had offered to help him get a work visa.

"I'm asking God to return legally to the U.S.," he said.

When his flight landed in Guatemala City, he and the other deportees exited the plane and lined up on the tarmac. They then marched into the "welcome center," where brown paper bags with sandwiches and other snacks awaited them on each chair.

Ms. Munoz-Lopez said the Guatemalan government would try to help them, offering access to job programs and transportation to their hometowns in the country's interior.

"You're going to return to your roots," she said. "Welcome to your country."

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.