Guatemala pledges to boost acceptance of deportation flights by 40%

Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Guatemala on Wednesday pledged to accept 40% more deportation flights from the United States of nationals and people of other nationalities.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the announcement in a joint news conference near the Guatemalan Air Force base in Guatemala City where flights arrive.

In 2024, the United States repatriated nearly 70,000 Guatemalans. That amounts to around 200 people a day.

The United States, since Donald Trump became president, is switching to C-17 military planes at a cost of $4,675 per migrant compared with $853 for a first-class commercial plane ticket from El Paso, Texas, to Guatemala City, Newsweek reported.

Rubio also announced new infrastructure projects, including two new ports, as well as highway and railroad connections to position Guatemala as a regional trade hub.

Rubio also announced he will be "signing waivers on foreign aid that will continue that partnership and hope to build on it as well." On Jan. 24, the Trump administration suspended all existing foreign aid for 90 days pending review with exceptions for Israel and Egypt.

In return, Guatemala has agreed to create a task force and increase protection along the country's eastern borders. The force, which will include members of the National Police and Army, will be tasked with fighting "all forms of transnational crime," Arevalo said.

Foreign nationals will be repatriated to their home countries, Arevalo said.

Guatemala has not had any discussions about receiving criminals from the United States, which is something that El Salvador's president has offered.

Rubio's first trips as the top diplomat are to Central American countries.

Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have opposed the use of military planes to fly deportees.

"The return of our migrants presents an opportunity not only for the state and the government, but to coordinate this as a national effort with the private sector, the tourism sector, infrastructure," Santiago Palomo, Arevalo's press secretary, told CNN last week.

During the first Trump administration in 2019, former Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales signed the Asylum Cooperative Agreement, known as the "safe third country agreement." This means the United States could send asylum-seekers to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

The Biden administration ended those agreements, and Trump hasn't brought it back yet.

"Along with the agreement on Monday in El Salvador, as well as the tightening of the migration accord and repatriation flights with Panama, the Trump administration is focused on choke points on the approach to the southern border," Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Voice of America on Wednesday. "Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala and maintaining migration enforcement with Mexico will likely lead to a drastic reduction in migrants at the southern border."