On Saturday, Guatemalan authorities announced that they had sent over 3,000 Honduran migrants back to their home country, splitting up a caravan that was bound for the United States attempting to seek asylum. Officials in Guatemala claimed that migrants were sent back in order to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

According to authorities, as many as 2,800 caravan members from Honduras had been crossing into Guatemala without authorization since last Thursday, even getting past troop lines at the border. Poverty in Honduras has exploded since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Guatemalan government said that 3,586 migrants had “opted to return”, however some seem to have pushed on, heading towards Mexico. On Saturday, a shelter in Tecun Uman (close to the Guatemala-Mexico border) saw the arrival of approximately 150 migrants. Some other 200 migrants were spotted in the Izabal region that lies between Honduras and Peten.

Guatemala’s Vice Minister of Foreign Relations, Eduardo Hernández, implored Honduran authorities to heighten efforts to stem the flow of migration headed towards the United States. Honduran Vice Foreign Minister Nelly Jerez responded saying that the country was working to improve the economy and national security in order to reduce the number of migrants.

The caravan was reported to have been hiking and traveling on foot, setting off from San Pedro Sula in Honduras, departing across three different days. Police at the Guatemalan border allegedly used tear gas to oppose a group that was looking to cross, saying that the group was leaving the country without going past the necessary migration controls.

Last Friday and Saturday, police and military manpower in Guatemala introduced hundreds of roadblocks that forced migrants to turn back into Honduras. Young children separated from their families, people in wheelchairs, and many more were in these caravans, fifteen of which requested refuge in Guatemala.

The Mexican government apparently deployed the National Guard to Tapachula, a town on the border with Guatemala as a “preventive measure”. In the past few years, thousands of migrants coming from Central America have been arriving in Mexico in large groups with the ultimate goal of reaching the United States. President Trump has in the past threatened Mexico with higher fees if it didn’t do more to stop the rush of undocumented migrants arriving at the border.

Trump also threatened countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador with freezing aid and steep tariffs if they didn’t step up their migration enforcement efforts. This led the three nations to sign agreements with the United States that would warrant migrants passing through any of three countries to apply for asylum there before continuing to the U.S., however security in any of these countries isn’t fit to receive the amount of people migrating.

“We respect the right to migration as long as it is regulated and the requirements and protocols that have been established are complied with, and not as happened with this group of migrants who broke into our country with violence.”

Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei

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