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(CNN) - The Trump administration sent a first migrant to Guatemala as part of its agreement with the Central American country to accept migrants seeking asylum in the United States, according to Guatemalan officials.
A man from Honduras arrived in Guatemala City on Thursday morning. He appeared to be the only migrant on the flight and was taken to a shelter after being processed.
The agreement represents a significant change in US asylum policy as migrants who may have a legitimate asylum application are sent to another country to present their case.
In recent months, the administration has been in talks with the Northern Triangle countries - Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador - to send migrants seeking asylum there on the border between the United States and Mexico. The agreements prohibit immigrants from applying for asylum in the US, with some exceptions, and allow the United States to send asylum seekers to one of those three countries.
It is not unusual for the government to begin slowly to solve the problems, said a National Security official. A similar slow-start process took place with the launch of the administration's program to return migrants to Mexico pending immigration procedures in the United States.
The newly appointed interim secretary of National Security, Chad Wolf, told reporters in South Texas on Thursday that the flights had begun and that it is a "gradual process."
The Trump administration has promoted the agreements, arguing that they allow migrants to seek asylum closer to their home countries. But migrant advocates have responded by noting that the countries with which the United States reached agreements do not have the infrastructure to support these migrants. Wolf said Thursday that the United States, along with international organizations, is helping Guatemala accommodate the arriving migrants.
U.S. asylum officers UU. They are receiving training on the program and have gradually begun to interview migrants to assess whether they are eligible to go to Guatemala, according to two sources familiar with the process. Migrants from Honduras and El Salvador are eligible to be sent back to Guatemala under this program, according to a family source.
According to US law In the US, immigrants can apply for asylum once in the United States. However, there is a warning for those who come through safe third countries, that is, countries with which the United States has signed an agreement. The United Nations refugee agency defines "safe country", in part, as "countries where refugees can enjoy asylum without any danger."
USA UU. It has a safe third country agreement with Canada since 2002.
Migrants in this asylum program do not have access to a lawyer before being expelled from the US. UU., According to two sources familiar with the process.
The agreement with Guatemala was the first of a series of similar agreements with Central American countries. In fiscal year 2019, the Customs and Border Protection Service stopped and considered inadmissible almost one million people, most of whom were from the Northern Triangle countries.
The former interim secretary of National Security Kevin McAleenan led the agreements in recent months and made several trips to Central America.
Wolf has promoted the agreements in a similar way. "Once they are in effect, these agreements will create a strong capacity for asylum throughout the region and allow migrants to seek humanitarian protection as close as possible to their home," he said during a three-day trip to Texas.
Critics of the department's asylum initiatives have said sending migrants to Guatemala could put them in danger.
Michael Knowles, president of a local union representing US asylum officers, denounced the Trump administration's asylum policy during a hearing in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, calling it "atrocious" and "illegal."
“This policy is blatantly illegal, it is immoral and, in fact, it is the basis of some heinous violations of human rights by our own country,” said Knowles.
Guatemala