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, while lacking sufficient support with re-integration. 

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 “bridge” to repatriate third country nationals denied a chance to seek asylum in the United States. 

Report

Mixed Blessing: Guatemalan Experiences under the New Central American Minors Program

Report

Two Years after Eta and Iota: Displaced and Forgotten in Guatemala

Report

Networks of Care for Displaced LGBTQ+ People: How the United States Can Support LGBTQ+-led Organizations in Central America and Mexico

Statement

Expansions to Central American Minors Program a Welcome Step, More Must Be Done

Statement

Refugees International Statement on VP Harris’ Visit to Guatemala

Statement

Refugees International Concerned by U.S. Agreements with Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala

Q&A

Q&A: What’s at Stake in Today’s Court Hearing about the Central American Minors Program?

Opinion

The Hill: The U.S. Is Making Forced Displacement Worse in Guatemala

Opinion

UN Dispatch: The White House Wants To Send Asylum Seekers To Guatemala. This is Probably Illegal

Advocacy Letter

Biden Administration: Redress ACA’s Wrongful Return of Asylum Seekers to Guatemala

Advocacy Letter

Refugees International Opposes Asylum Cooperative Agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras

Advocacy Letter Testimony

U.S. Policy in Mexico and Central America: Ensuring Effective Policies to Address the Crisis at the Border

Event

Emergency Sudan Briefing: Eyewitness Accounts from Darfur and Chad

Event

The Third Annual Ukrainian Aid Leadership Conference

Event

Info Session: Applying for the 2025-2026 Refugee Fellows Program

Perspective

Lucky Karim: Advocate, Refugee Returns to Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh

100+ Days Fighting for Rights and Refuge: A Special Edition of the RI Bulletin

Commentary

Setting the Record Straight on CHNV

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