HI THIS IS IMPORTANT.
The US is taking some families who seek asylum in the US and, instead of letting them make their case or even screening them for asylum eligibility, sending them to Guatemala to seek asylum there instead.
The US is taking some families who seek asylum in the US and, instead of letting them make their case or even screening them for asylum eligibility, sending them to Guatemala to seek asylum there instead.
Guatemala hasn’t released updated staffing stats for how many asylum officers it has. As of this summer it had 11. “Seeking asylum in Guatemala” is basically not a thing that existed prior to the US sending people to do it, as a way to keep them from seeking it here.
I am really trying to stop freaking out about the “kids in cages” trope, but this is what immigration policy looks like at the end of 2019. The goal is to get people out of custody as quickly as possible by getting them out of the United States as quickly as possible.
PS: US officials went out of their way, when they started sending migrants back to Guatemala under this agreement last month, to say they were only sending a limited number of single adults so far. Within less than a month, and with no announcement, that expanded to families.
