Shortly before a Supreme Court decision on Friday that handed President Donald Trump $2.5 billion in border wall funding, he received another big win for his immigration agenda: a treaty designating Guatemala as safe for asylum seekers.
On Friday afternoon, the US and Guatemala signed an agreement that will direct Central American migrants who pass through Guatemala hoping to seek asylum in the United States to first apply for protection in Guatemala instead. Those who travel to the US without applying for asylum in Guatemala could be removed by US border officials to that country.
According to a new rule implemented by the Trump administration earlier this month, people seeking asylum at the US border will be turned away if they passed through another safe country — a “safe third country,” as they are called — before reaching the United States.