Guatemala Arrests 109 Migrants Amid Immigration Crack Down

Over 100 migrants were arrested by Guatemalan police as the Central American nation cracks down on immigration in compliance with the United States' anti-migration policy, official sources said Thursday.

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A total of 109 migrants “without required documentation to stay legally in Guatemala” have been arrested since the operation Plan Gobernanza (Governance Plan) was authorized on Wednesday, Alejandra Mena, spokeswoman for the Guatemalan Migration Institute, explained.

Among the detainees are 44 Hondurans, 23 Salvadorans, 25 Haitians, six Bangladeshis, five Cameroonians, three Mexicans,  and three others who were not identified.

“We will make sure that the human rights and physical integrity of people who are temporarily in the country are respected," Guatemalan police stated, as they concentrate their forces along the Mexican border. 

Also on Thursday, agents of the National Civil Police (PNC) deported 26 Salvadoran migrants, including 12 children, from the General Directorate of Migration, where they were being detained. The same fate awaited 15 Honduran migrants later that day, Prensa Libre reported.

Last month, Mexico caved to U.S. pressure and authorized the deployment of 6,000 national guard members to its southern border and quell the flow of Guatemalan migrants in exchange to avoid import tariffs.

In late June, Guatemalan Vice President Jafeth Cabrera insisted that his country was incapable of hosting thousands of migrants or of becoming a Safe Third Country (STC).

Under this sort of agreement, migrants would be required to seek asylum in Guatemala if they want to reach the U.S. Canada struck a pact of those characteristics back in 2002.

"Guatemala has neither the economy nor possibilities of being able to support a number of migrants of that nature," Cabrera told EFE and explained that his country did not offer the U.S. to become a STC.