The Department of Homeland Security confirms that certain Mexicans seeking humanitarian protection can be transferred to the Central American nation.
Some Mexicans seeking asylum in the United States will be sent to Guatemala as part of a bilateral agreement, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Monday.
“Certain Mexicans seeking humanitarian protections in the United States may now be eligible to be transferred to Guatemala and given the opportunity to seek protection there, under the terms of the Guatemala Asylum Cooperative Agreement,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement to NBC News.
Emails detailing the implementation of the plan were sent to asylum officials in recent days, as first reported by BuzzFeed News.
The emails said Mexican nationals would be included in the populations “amenable” to the agreement with Guatemala.
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The agreement, which was brokered in July between the Trump administration and the outgoing Guatemalan government, allows U.S. immigration officials to send migrants requesting asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border to apply for protection in Guatemala, instead.
The administration made similar deals with Honduras and El Salvador last year.
Source:NBCNEWS
