Status: 06.02.2021 12:41 p.m.
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With a controversial agreement, the former US President Trump had declared Guatemala a safe third country. Asylum seekers from there could be deported again immediately. His successor Biden is now moving away from this policy.
The US government has lifted a controversial asylum regime with Guatemala. The Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Washington had informed them that the ACA bilateral asylum agreement was no longer valid. Accordingly, asylum seekers who entered Guatemala on their way to the USA can no longer be deported to the Central American country immediately.
The ACA agreement was agreed in 2019 between former US President Donald Trump and his then Guatemalan counterpart Jimmy Morales. Guatemala was declared a safe third country under the agreement. The USA was able to deport numerous asylum seekers immediately without giving them the opportunity to apply for asylum. Trump had agreed similar measures with Honduras and El Salvador.
Guatemala calls for no migration
The government of Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei had received the news positively, the statement said. The causes of irregular migration will be tackled together in close coordination and cooperation with US President Joe Biden.
At the same time, the ministry called on the population not to put their health and property at risk. Because of the corona pandemic, the borders are more protected than before. Anyone who sets out illegally will be arrested and deported.
Biden loosens Trump’s restrictive migration policy
The majority of the people who flee or migrate to the USA come from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Biden had announced that he would withdraw the restrictive measures taken by his predecessor.
After he took office on January 20, the US Democrat repealed a controversial rule according to which asylum seekers who entered the US via Mexico are returned to the neighboring country and have to wait there for a decision on their application.
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