The Absurdity and Danger of Trump's Deal to Send Asylum Seekers to Guatemala
39 MINS AGO
A firsthand account of the peril facing more than 700 Central Americans, mostly women and children.
NOAH LANARD
Reporter
Former Guatemalan attorney general Thelma Aldana fled to the United States after prosecuting rampant corruption at the highest levels of her country’s government. On Monday, Aldana announced she’d been granted asylum in the United States.
Also on Monday, the United States flew asylum seekers from Texas to Guatemala City to force them to seek protection in…Guatemala.
The juxtaposition captures the absurdity of a new arrangement—known as a “safe third country” agreement, under the assumption that the destination can provide security to people fleeing prosecution—under which Central Americans stopped at the US-Mexico border have to ask Guatemala for asylum. A country unsafe for a former attorney general is now tasked with providing refuge to some of the region’s most vulnerable people. Since the first flight in November, the Trump administration has sent more than 700 Hondurans and Salvadorans to Guatemala, about 75 percent of whom are women and children.
The agreement is part of a patchwork of policies established last year that have effectively ended asylum at the southern US border. Immigrant advocacy groups are suing to try to stop the flights to Guatemala.
More:
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/the-absurdity-and-danger-of-trumps-deal-to-send-asylum-seekers-to-guatemala/