Nearly every single migrant removed from the United States under a newly-implemented asylum deal is simply choosing to return home instead of remaining in Guatemala, a result the Trump administration intended.
Of the 24 people who have been deported to Guatemala under a new asylum agreement, all but two have chosen to return to their home countries, Guatemala Interior Secretary Enrique Degenhart revealed in a press conference on Thursday, according to Reuters. The remaining two migrants have actually sought protected status in Guatemala.
While the numbers are still small, the trend appears to be in line with what the Trump administration had anticipated for the fledgling asylum agreement.
As part of its multi-faceted approach to managing the border crisis, the White House reached an asylum cooperative agreement with Guatemala City in July. The deal requires that asylum seekers who pass through Guatemala on their way to the U.S. border must seek protected status there first. Migrants who fail to do this are subject to be flown back to Guatemala.
While the deal was officially reached in July, it took months to finally begin implementing it. The agreement has attracted widespread criticism from immigrant-rights activists in the U.S. and the general public in Guatemala, with both sides questioning how the impoverished Central American country could possibly accept a large influx of asylum seekers. However, the Trump administration, arguing that a vast majority of these migrants aren’t actually in need of protected status, contended that most of them would simply choose to return to their home countries.
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