Trump Signs “Safe Third Country” Asylum Agreement With Guatemala

In a surprise announcement Friday, President Trump said the US has signed a “safe third country” agreement with Guatemala, which the White House says will require migrants from other countries who pass through Guatemala to seek protection in Guatemala instead of in the United States, and send migrants back to Guatemala if they reach the United States without having done so.

The agreement comes after Guatemala’s Constitutional Court blocked that country’s president from declaring Guatemala a safe third country for asylum-seekers. The details of the agreement have yet to be formally released

“They don’t want these problems either. So we were able to get this done and we got it done fairly quickly. And this is after many, many years. Mexico also is working along with us very nicely. I mean tremendously, actually. You’ll see a chart where the numbers are really through the–through the floor, I should say, because they’re going down”, Trump said.

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said the agreement aims to slow “irregular migration.”

But the decision is already being criticized by some humanitarian groups. Refugees International President Eric Schwartz condemned the announcement as in violation of US law and declared Guatemala unsafe for migrants.