Guatemala seeks to repatriate nearly 350 migrant minors detained in the United States

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) – The Guatemalan government seeks to repatriate 341 minors who traveled alone as migrants to the United States and are held in U.S. detention centers, before they reach the age of majority to prevent them from being taken to adult centers.

The director of the Guatemalan Institute of Migration, Danilo Rivera explained Wednesday that minors traveled alone or unaccompanied in seeking to migrate to the United States and, after crossing the border, were taken to detention centers in the United States.

According to the management of the Guatemalan Institute of Migration, 364 minors have been deported during the first six months of the year alone, among children and adolescents from the United States.

“The idea is that they return before they turn 18 so that they are not taken to an adult detention center, that it is a form of voluntary return, with our resources,” the director told The Associated Press.

“The novelty of the plan is that it is us (the Guatemalan government) who are looking to bring our children, with our resources, seeking to protect them,” Rivera said.

The director added that most minors are in centers in Texas and Virginia and seeking the support of U.S. immigration authorities to achieve repatriations.

The migration issue has been a constant between the two countries. Last February, during a visit made by the Secretary of the U.S. State Department, Marco Rubio, to Guatemala agreed with the Guatemalan government to accept Central American migrants, in their passage, back to their countries of origin.

Also on a visit last week, the Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Guatemalan Minister of the Interior, Francisco Jiménez, with whom they seek to exchange information for migration controls together.

On the return of minors, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo announced the action plan on Friday and said that the country cannot close its eyes to one of the most painful faces of migration, which is that of children and adolescents who return alone, often marked by uprooting and vulnerability. And as a government we have a moral and legal obligation to attend to them.

The plan shall be carried out by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Nation (PGN), which, by legal obligation, must protect the rights of minors who are not under the protection of their families.

The Government ‘ s plan includes inter-agency coordination to consolidate information on the return of minors, their family resources, their registration when they are already in Guatemalan territory, as well as psychosocial assessments. It will be extended, the authorities announced, to other institutions in the search for support such as scholarships or work plans depending on the needs.

Minors are not only deported from the United States, they are also returned from Mexico.

https://apnews.com/article/guatemala-eeuu-migracion-deportados-menores-edad-1bbde1cfb180253987c71c79e20949e2