The United States has signed agreements with Guatemala and Honduras that could see these countries offer refuge to individuals who would otherwise seek asylum in the US, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Thursday. The deals expand the Trump administration's ability to return migrants to third countries as it intensifies deportation efforts.
Noem described the agreements as providing asylum-seekers with alternatives to coming to the US, stating that 'the guarantee for a refugee is that they go somewhere to be safe... It doesn’t necessarily have to be the United States.' The accords, which had been under negotiation for months, allow the US to declare some asylum seekers ineligible for US protection and send them to countries deemed 'safe.'
Similar safe-third country agreements were signed during Trump's first term with Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, but faced practical challenges as those countries were experiencing high numbers of their own citizens fleeing violence and had under-resourced asylum systems. In February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed deals with El Salvador and Guatemala, though Guatemala's role was limited to transit for migrants returning to their homelands, while El Salvador's agreement allowed for migrant imprisonment.
Mexico has declined to sign a similar agreement, though it has accepted over 5,000 deported migrants from the US for humanitarian reasons. The US also has agreements with Panama and Costa Rica, which have received relatively small numbers of migrants so far. These pacts provide US authorities with options, particularly for migrants from countries where direct repatriation is challenging.
