U.S. immigration authorities may now send Mexicans seeking asylum at the U.S. border to Guatemala — a country plagued by violence — so they can seek protections in that country instead.
News of the expansion of a policy that has already sent dozens of Honduran and Salvadoran asylum-seekers from the U.S. border to Guatemala was first reported by BuzzFeed News.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed its policy change, made possible under an agreement signed in July between the U.S. and Guatemala.
“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 DHS spokesman said in a statement.