Guatemala is open to receiving citizens from other Central American nations who are deported from the United States, three sources with knowledge of the matter said, as the country seeks to build a positive relationship with the new Trump administration.
“There needs to be a regional response,” a Guatemalan official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters. “And we want to be part of the solution.”
The US has struggled to deport citizens from places like Nicaragua, Venezuela and Haiti due to tense relations. That could be a challenge for President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to deport a record number of immigrants living in the United States illegally.
His team has already contacted the governments of several countries to test their willingness to accept deportees from other countries.
Many U.S. neighbors, including Mexico and the Bahamas, have said they do not want to take in deportees from other countries.
In 2022, more than 40% of immigrants living illegally in the US came from Mexico, 4.8 million out of a total of 11 million, according to a report from the US Department of Homeland Security. Then came Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, which together accounted for more than a fifth of the total.
Guatemala has been especially proactive in preparing for a second Trump term, in relation to neighbors El Salvador and Honduras, meeting with members of Trump’s transition team, including Senator Marco Rubio, before he was chosen as secretary of State, and with the conservative institute Heritage Foundation, to talk about immigration and mass deportations, border security, drug trafficking and China.
All three countries and the government of Nicaragua, which has the most openly hostile relationship with the US, are going through a moment of reckoning, both in dealing with Trump’s demand that they accept deportees and a possible reduction in remittances. immigrants in the US, who are a major contributor to its economies.
Trump’s transition team did not respond to a request for comment at first.
Trying for a smooth start
The meetings between Guatemala and the United States signal that the center-left government of President Bernard Arévalo, an ally of the Biden administration, wants to begin on smooth terms with the Trump administration, despite ties between Guatemala’s conservative opposition and many in the Guatemalan orbit. elected president. Trump’s inauguration will take place on January 20.
El Salvador, whose populist president Nayib Bukele already has close ties to Trump’s group, has taken a less proactive approach. But a source close to discussions between Salvadoran officials and the transition team said the Trump administration envisions smooth cooperation with El Salvador on immigration.
The Guatemalan official noted that the country already receives 14 deportation flights per week under US President Joe Biden’s administration and is preparing for an increase.
Honduras’ deputy foreign minister, Antonio García, told Reuters that the country receives 10 deportation flights a week. Reuters was unable to confirm the number of deportation flights to other Central American countries.
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This content was originally published in Guatemala is open to receiving Trump deportees, sources say on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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