Honouring the recent United States (US)-brokered deal between Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, and Guatemala to restrict migration from Central America to the US, Guatemalan armed forces have thwarted the efforts of thousands of Honduran migrants who are attempting to reach the US.
Guatemalan police and soldiers have remained steadfast in their resolve to push the migrants back, with several asylum-seekers agreeing to be transported back to the Honduran border. In fact, 1,600 Hondurans have been deported by Guatemalan authorities over the past four days. Those who remain, however, have been beaten with batons and forced back using tear gas by the 450 soldiers and riot police. President Alejandro Giammattei also deployed roughly 2,000 forces to the border.
Guillermo Díaz, the director of Guatemala’s migration institute, said, “It’s impossible for them to continue the journey. They have tried and it was not possible to pass through. The people who have already crossed have been detained. We invite them to return to their place of origin.”
Mexico, too, has its National Guard and immigration agents waiting to send the migrants back should they reach Guatemala’s border with Mexico. In fact, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said, “We are proposing that they seek a dialogue with the migrants, in Honduras, Guatemala,” adding, “They should attend to them so that they don’t enter any country by force.”
Likewise, Mexico’s Foreign Relations Department issued a statement saying, “The Mexican government recognizes the outstanding work of the government of Guatemala, which has acted in a firm and responsible manner toward the contingent of migrants that violated its sovereignty.” The statement went on to say that Mexico “rejects any unregulated and disorderly entry that puts at risk the lives and health of the migrant population or the host country”.
Many of the migrants were driven to this decision following the disastrous impact of recent tropical storms Eta and Iota, which displaced hundreds of thousands of people, damaged infrastructure, homes, and crops, and killed hundreds. It is estimated that there are between 8,000 and 9,000 people attempting to reach the US from Honduras as part of multiple caravans.
However, their progress has been hampered by a migration deal between Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, with the governments issuing a joint statement saying, “We will establish regional alliances to reduce the causes and consequences of irregular migration and prevent human trafficking.”
The Trump administration recently implemented the Asylum Cooperative Agreement in cooperation with Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. As a result of the agreements, the US will send some asylum seekers who arrive at its borders to the three partnered countries under the Asylum Cooperative Agreements. Put simply, the deals say that migrants can seek shelter in the countries they pass through on their way to the US. This is indicative of the more hands-off approach the US is seeking to take, wherein it seeks to share the burden of housing refugees and asylum-seekers with the same states they are escaping from.
The deal also enables the Central American countries to send back any migrants who arrive at their borders from any of the other signatory parties.
For example, in October, it was revealed that the Guatemalan military deployed troops to its borders to prevent a caravan of 3,500 Honduran migrants from advancing in their goal of reaching the US.
Mexico, too, deployed its army, the national guard, and the National Migration Institute (INM), to seal its southern border in order to prevent Honduran migrants from entering the country via Guatemala.
It is thought that this cooperation on the part of Central American countries is due to the promise of American support—financial and otherwise. For instance, when an overwhelming amount of asylum seekers arrived at the US-Mexico border last year, Mexico avoided the crippling tariffs Trump was threatening by deploying its National Guard to stop several Central American immigrants headed north to the US. Mexico also acquiesced to Trump’s policy of making asylum seekers wait in Mexico while their cases were being processed in the US. Even during the ongoing pandemic, the US is using its health emergency to send Mexicans and Central Americans back to Mexico.
This has in part paved the way for Mexico to sign a free trade agreement with the US and Canada. Furthermore, When Trump was brokering a deal between oil-producing nations to reduce production, he offered to further reduce US production on behalf of Mexico. This would allow Mexico, which could not afford to significantly reduce production, to make fewer cuts than required by the deal right now, provided that it pays the US back in the future.
It is possible that Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are hopeful of similar kickbacks through the Asylum Cooperative Agreements.
Despite the deal, however, it remains clear that tensions still exist within the group, given that the migrant caravan would likely not have crossed into Guatemala had Honduran authorities been more vigilant. In fact, Guatemala’s foreign affairs secretary, Pedro Brolo Vila, said he was “totally surprised” by Honduras’ “lack of cooperation”, claiming that Tegucigalpa had reneged on its promises to deploy security forces to stall the migrants’ advance towards Guatemala’s border. Vila alleged that Honduran forces had instead led migrants “toward our borders where regrettably we saw how they entered violently, violating Guatemala’s territorial sovereignty”. Guatemalan authorities have also alleged that several of the migrants are carrying fake COVID-19 test results and t hat at least 21 have tested positive for the virus.
There are indications that these policies could be undone under the new Biden administration, as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has previously called them “inhumane and potentially illegal”, adding that they could have “serious and detrimental implications for US national security” by eroding the legitimacy and credibility of the US in Central America as a regional leader. That being said, President-elect Joe Biden’s Central America policy plan does not mention cancelling these accords.
In addition, an unnamed official from his transition team has urged the migrants to wait before making their way to the US. He warned, “The situation at the border isn’t going to be transformed overnight,” and said that the migrants “need to understand they're not going to be able to come into the United States immediately”. He did not, however, provide a timeframe for when these policies are expected to change.
Honduras Thwarts Attempts by Thousands of Guatemalan Migrants to Reach US
Between 8,000 and 9,000 Honduran migrants have attempted cross through Guatemala to reach the United States. Their efforts have been blocked by Guatemalan armed forces, however.
January 19, 2021
IMAGE SOURCE: LUIS ECHEVERRIA / REUTERSMany of the migrants were driven to this decision following the disastrous impact of recent tropical storms Eta and Iota, which displaced hundreds of thousands of people, damaged infrastructure, homes, and crops, and killed hundreds.