Guatemala
Americas
Advocacy for Guatemala
What’s Happening?
Guatemalans have fled their country in large numbers since the 1980s to escape violence, impunity, corruption, poverty, lack of security and services, droughts, and hurricanes. Many are unaccompanied children who frequently have relatives in the United States. Guatemala’s economy relies heavily on remittances from the United States – even as tens of thousands of Guatemalans are deported from the U.S. each year, frequently saddled with debt and targeted for extortion upon arrival. In 2025, Guatemala entered into an asylum cooperative agreement with the United States to accept third country nationals.
What Must Be Done?
Refugees International is advocating for increased protections for displaced Guatemalans, including increased support for those displaced by the impacts of climate change. It also opposes Guatemala serving as a “safe third country” or a “bridge” to repatriate third country nationals denied a chance to seek asylum in the United States.
Latest Reports and Briefs
Mixed Blessing: Guatemalan Experiences under the New Central American Minors Program
March 15, 2023
Two Years after Eta and Iota: Displaced and Forgotten in Guatemala
February 17, 2023
Networks of Care for Displaced LGBTQ+ People: How the United States Can Support LGBTQ+-led Organizations in Central America and Mexico
January 27, 2022
Latest Statements and News
Latest Opinions, Q&As, and Explainers
Latest Advocacy Letters
Biden Administration: Redress ACA’s Wrongful Return of Asylum Seekers to Guatemala
July 9, 2021
Refugees International Opposes Asylum Cooperative Agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras
December 23, 2019
U.S. Policy in Mexico and Central America: Ensuring Effective Policies to Address the Crisis at the Border
September 25, 2019
Latest Events and Testimonies
Latest Perspectives and Commentaries
Featured Image: Erwin Jose Ardon was the first Central American asylum seeker sent to Guatemala under the country’s ACA agreement with the United States, pictured on November 24, 2019. Erwin opted to return to Honduras, but said he hopes to set out again for the United States where his daughter was born seven months ago. © AP Photo/ Elmer Martinez
Take Action
Let Them Stay
Write to your Members of Congress today and urge them to protect people who have found safety in the United States through humanitarian parole and #LetThemStay.
