US starts sending families seeking asylum to Guatemala, even if they're not from there
WASHINGTON _ U.S. officials have started to send families seeking asylum to Guatemala, even if they are not from the Central American country and had sought protection in the United States, the Los Angeles Times has learned.
In July, the Trump administration announced a new rule effectively ending asylum at the southern U.S. border and requiring asylum-seekers to claim protection elsewhere. Under the rule _ which currently faces legal challenges _ virtually any migrant who passes through another country before reaching the U.S. border and does not seek asylum there will be deemed ineligible for protection in the United States. Guatemala's highest court initially said the country's president couldn't unilaterally enter into an agreement with the United States to take the asylum-seekers, but since late November, U.S. officials have forcibly returned individuals to Guatemala.
U.S. officials said they would return only single adults at first. But starting Tuesday, they began applying the policy to non-Guatemalan parents and children, according to communications obtained by the Times and several U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials.
Guatemala has virtually no asylum system of its own, but the Trump administration and Guatemalan government both said the returns would roll out slowly and selectively.
_Los Angeles Times
