EXCLUSIVE: Guatemala Braces For Impact, Says It Won’t Be A Haven For Illegal Immigrants As Trump-Era Policy Ends

The Daily Caller

EXCLUSIVE: Guatemala Braces For Impact, Says It Won’t Be A Haven For Illegal Immigrants As Trump-Era Policy Ends

Jennie Taer on May 5, 2023

  • Ahead of the lifting of a Trump-era migrant expulsion order, Guatemala is telling the Biden administration that they don’t want to be a country that harbors illegal immigrants, the Guatemalan president’s spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
  • The Biden administration is set to open a migrant processing center in Guatemala as it anticipates a surge of U.S.-bound migrants after the lifting of Title 42, a Trump-era migrant expulsion order, on May 11.
  • “We just want to make something clear: we are not going to be a safe third country,” President Alejandro Giammattei’s spokesperson, Kevin Lopez Oliva, told the DCNF.

The government of Guatemala wants the Biden administration to know it is not going to be willing to harbor illegal migrants after the looming lifting of Title 42, a Trump-era migrant expulsion order, the Guatemalan president’s spokesperson exclusively told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Biden administration announced April 27 that the U.S. will erect migrant processing centers in Guatemala and Colombia to help stem the flow of migrants expected to flood the border with Mexico when Title 42, a Trump-era migrant expulsion order mainly used at the U.S.-Mexico border, ends May 11. Guatemala is concerned about the expected influx of migrants after Title 42 and the effects of the U.S.’ new policies, President Alejandro Giammattei’s spokesperson, Kevin Lopez Oliva, told the DCNF.

“We just want to make something clear: we are not going to be a safe third country. … However, we remain the only ally to the United States in terms of immigration enforcement because Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, the rest of Central America, they are just letting everyone pass through. But we are still stopping the caravans, we’re still enforcing our laws in our borders,” Lopez Oliva told the DCNF.


Guatemala previously asked the Biden administration to supply the country with planes and buses to deport migrants, but the U.S. denied the request, Giammattei exclusively revealed to the DCNF in October.


“Last year, we increased the penalties for the human smuggling, and human smugglers know this, and therefore, the caravans are forming in Mexico, not in Guatemala. But we need more help definitely. And we are expecting an influx of people coming due to the lifting of the Title 42 and we’re doing our best but we cannot do it alone. We’re preparing with sending our military forces to the border, the police is already in the other border as well in order to stop caravans,” Lopez Oliva added.

The head of Guatemala’s immigration agency also sent a letter on April 25 to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging him DHS to provide more resources to help with the expected migrant surge.

“The migration and security authorities are concerned about this situation, as the termination of Title 42 is expected to increase irregular migratory flows, undermining our territory’s security,” the letter stated.

Guatemalan authorities denied entry to roughly 4,000 migrants between January and April 16, according to the letter. The country has accepted roughly 12,000 Guatemalan migrants that were returned under the authority of Title 42.

“We request the assistance and cooperation of the different agencies of the United States in our country to jointly address the imminent increase in irregular migratory flows in the territory as a transit country and continue strengthening the work of the Guatemalan Institute of Migration, to contain the massive flows of people bound to the United States of America,” it said.

Meanwhile, U.S. border cities across from Mexico are already experiencing a glimpse of what may come after May 11. The mayor of El Paso, Texas, declared a state of emergency concerning the issue Monday.

“We’re getting prepared now for what we call the unknown,” Democratic El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said. “And the unknown is what will happen after May 11.”

DHS didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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