Guatemala to Host US-Supported Center for Asylum Seekers

Guatemala will host the first of several centers in Central America for immigrant asylum seekers in the United States, the White House announced on the eve of Vice President Kamala Harris' trip to the region.

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Between June 6 and 8, Harris will hold meetings with Guatemala's President Alejandro Giammattei and Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. They will discuss issues such as increasing the number of border security officers and supporting capacity building for migrant care.

Her visit is part of President Joe Biden's strategy to control migration flows out of the so-called "Northern Triangle of Central America," which includes El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.

In this context, Guatemala's Foreign Affairs Minister Pedro Brolo also announced that 16 officials from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would arrive in his country to collaborate with local authorities.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), 178,120 undocumented migrants were apprehended after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in April.

In addition to being the highest number recorded since 2000, this migration flow showed a 3 percent increase over March, when 173,448 immigrants were intercepted.

This occurred even though the U.S.-Mexico border has been closed to non-essential travel since March 2020, as part of measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic.