Guatemala President Bernardo Arevalo said Wednesday that he agreed to accept immigrants from other countries after his country was deported from the United States.
At that point, under the “safe third country” contract announced Wednesday, the US will pay to allow immigrants to return to their home country.
Arevalo announced the “Safe Third Country” contract at a press conference with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday.
“We have agreed to increase the number of flights for both deportees from nationalities and deporters from other nationalities by 40%,” Arevalo said.
The deal is similar to an offer made by President Naibe Bukere, El Salvador, earlier this week. Buquer said El Salvador will continue to accept deported Salvadorans who lived in the United States without legal status, as well as members of the international crime gangster MS-13 or Tren de Aragua.
In exchange, Bukel, known for his aggressive approach to tackling gang violence in his country, will accept fees from the US government.
“We will only draw convicted criminals (including convicted US citizens) into MegaPrison (CECOT) in exchange for fees,” Bukerell said. I wrote it on a Monday night Social Platform x.
“The fees are relatively low for the US, but they are important to us and make the entire prison system sustainable,” he added.
Rubio later said that Bukere's offer was “generous” but could face “legality” in the US.
Rubio is in Guatemala as the country's top diplomat as part of his first foreign trip. He began his five country visits in Panama before traveling to El Salvador and Costa Rica. He concludes his trip in the Dominican Republic.
The Associated Press contributed.
