US signs agreements with Guatemala and Honduras to take asylum-seekers, Noem says

Source: AP

Updated 9:16 PM EDT, June 26, 2025


GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala and Honduras have signed agreements with the United States to potentially offer refuge to people from other countries who otherwise would seek asylum in the United States, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday at the conclusion of her Central America trip.

The agreements expand the Trump administration’s efforts to provide the U.S. government flexibility in returning migrants not only to their own countries, but also to third countries as it attempts to ramp up deportations. Noem described it as a way to offer asylum-seekers options other than coming to the United States. She said the agreements had been in the works for months. with the U.S. government applying pressure on Honduras and Guatemala to get them done.

“Honduras and now Guatemala after today will be countries that will take those individuals and give them refugee status as well,” Noem said. “We’ve never believed that the United States should be the only option, that the guarantee for a refugee is that they go somewhere to be safe and to be protected from whatever threat they face in their country. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the United States.”

Both governments denied having signed safe third-country agreements when asked following Noem’s comments. Guatemala’s presidential communications office said the government did not sign a safe third-country agreement nor any immigration related agreement during Noem’s visit. They reaffirmed that Guatemala would receive Central Americans sent by the United States as a temporary stop on the return to their countries.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/guatemala-honduras-noem-asylum-371666b1b5c091276ac27395fc0adac9