WASHINGTON _ Guatemala has signed an agreement with the Trump administration that would require all asylum-seekers transiting the Central American country to make their claim there instead of in the U.S., President Donald Trump said Friday.
"We've long been working with Guatemala, and now we can do it the right way," Trump said in remarks in the Oval Office. The agreement will put "coyotes and the smugglers out of business," Trump said. "These are bad people."
Trump looked on as acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan signed the document alongside Guatemalan Interior Minister Enrique Degenhart at the White House.
The details of the agreement have yet to be released, but it would likely have the biggest impact on Central American migrants. Officials have said previously that under such an agreement, Hondurans, Salvadorans and others who passed through Guatemala would have to seek asylum in that country and could not claim asylum in the United States unless they were denied refuge there.
That would be similar to the agreement the U.S. has with Canada. But immigrant advocates and outside experts have warned that Guatemala does not meet the legal definitions of a "safe" country. Its homicide rates are among the highest in the world and the country suffers from persistent issues of corruption, poverty and climate-driven displacement that render it incapable of providing for its own citizens, much less absorbing what could be tens of thousands of asylum-seekers from other parts of Central America and around the world.
"Guatemala is in no way safe for refugees and asylum-seekers, and all the strong-arming in the world won't make it so," Refugees International President Eric Schwartz said in a statement. "This agreement also violates U.S. law and will put some of the most vulnerable people in Central America in grave danger."
It's unclear how the Trump administration managed to secure the migration deal, known as a "safe third country" agreement, with Guatemala, given that the country's highest court recently ruled its president could not sign one.
Just a few days ago, Trump slammed Guatemala for allegedly backing out of a commitment to signing a safe third country agreement, threatening a travel ban or tariffs, among other retaliatory measures.
"Guatemala is definitely clear on the responsibility that it has," said Degenhart when asked about the court rulings.
Trump administration officials have been lobbying intensely for months to get Guatemala to accept a sweeping migration agreement amid continued frustration over near-record numbers of Central American families and unaccompanied minors arriving to the U.S. southern border. Many from El Salvador and Honduras travel through Guatemala en route to Mexico.
McAleenan recently completed a trip to Guatemala, and Guatemalan counterparts are in Washington this week.
The administration of Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales also said recently it had "never considered" a safe third country agreement, after Morales abruptly canceled a trip to Washington.
