海角大神

Victor sits in a dimly lit hallway beside the small patio of the Casa del Migrante shelter, fidgeting with a plastic bag full of personal documents. It鈥檚 about 7:30 p.m. and he鈥檚 still trying to process the past 12 hours of his life.

Just this morning, he, his wife, and their two small boys were in the United States, hoping against hope to receive asylum from violence in their native Honduras. By the afternoon, they鈥檇 been loaded onto a plane filled with Guatemalan deportees and taken to Guatemala City, where U.S. officials said his family could request protection.

More than six months ago, he and his family fled Honduras where they faced extortion and violence. Now thousands of miles south of where he鈥檇 envisioned ending his journey in the U.S., Victor鈥檚 family has been given 72 hours to decide whether to apply for asylum here in Guatemala, or return home.

鈥淚t felt like a trick,鈥� he says of his interview with U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents after crossing illegally from Ciudad Ju谩rez, Mexico, into El Paso, Texas. Victor鈥檚 last name has been omitted for safety, as it has for all migrants quoted in this article.聽鈥淭hey asked if I was afraid to return to Honduras, but they wouldn鈥檛 let me tell them why. They asked if I would feel safe in Guatemala and I said no.鈥� He had left Honduras after weekly payments demanded by local gangs started to exceed his income as a construction worker. A shakedown at gunpoint was his family鈥檚 final straw.

He says he needs to recover from the shock before he decides his next steps. A few things are certain: He won鈥檛 go home and he won鈥檛 stay here.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 the thing,鈥� Victor says, his voice falling to a whisper. 鈥淚f Guatemala was safe, why was my plane full of Guatemalans wanting out in the first place?鈥�

More of the migrants and refugees apprehended at the U.S. southern border come from Guatemala than from almost any other country: Some 18,000 Guatemalans have applied for asylum in the U.S. over the past two years alone.

Fabricio Alonso/Reuters

Honduran migrants, who were sent to Guatemala from the United States under an Asylum Cooperative Agreement, sit at a table after arriving at Casa del Migrante shelter in Guatemala City, March 5, 2020. The ACA has sent about 800 Hondurans and Salvadorans to Guatemala.

Under a 鈥渟afe third country鈥� agreement signed by the U.S. and Guatemala last year, some Central Americans who travel to the U.S. to ask for asylum are now put on planes and required to apply in Guatemala first. It raises the question of whether Guatemala can meet the need, particularly as the number of potential asylum-seekers ramps up quickly in a country facing its own challenges with poverty and violence.

The Asylum Cooperative Agreement (ACA) has sent nearly 800 Hondurans and Salvadorans to Guatemala to date. It鈥檚 one of the many ways the Trump administration has transformed migration across the Americas, as the U.S. looks to shrink the tally of people entering at its southern border. The U.S. has put pressure on its southern neighbors to halt migration through threats of tariffs in Mexico; cutting development aid in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras; and pressing leaders to sign safe third country agreements. El Salvador and Honduras are reportedly close to enacting similar plans with the U.S.

Guatemala鈥檚 asylum system is relatively young, and the process is cumbersome: The vice president and a handful of government ministers together make the final decision on each claim. Out of the hundreds of refugees sent to Guatemala from the U.S. via ACA, only 14 applied for asylum as of mid-February, according to Guatemala鈥檚 migration agency. It鈥檚 a reflection of how they view the proposition of seeking protection here, advocates say.聽

Sudden surge

When Guatemala launched its asylum system nearly two decades ago, it was without much fanfare. For the first decade, the annual number of people seeking refuge in Guatemala barely reached double digits 鈥� and the number of cases accepted hovered around two to three, sometimes zero. By 2014, when a surge in unaccompanied minors leaving the region for the U.S. made its way across the region, those numbers shot up: One hundred people applied for protection in Guatemala, with 17 cases approved. In 2016, nearly 150 people applied and a record 74 cases were approved. In total, just shy of 315 people received asylum here between 2002 and November 2019, according to government statistics. Nearly 600 are still awaiting responses to their cases.

But those numbers are nominal compared with neighboring Mexico, where sought refugee status in 2019. The U.S., meanwhile, had nearly 93,000 people on the southwest border express fear of returning home in fiscal year 2018. And while a handful of refugees 鈥� from Belize, China, and Venezuela 颅鈥� have found protection in Guatemala since 2002, were apprehended at the U.S. southern border last year alone.

Guatemala isn鈥檛 an appropriate place to send asylum-seekers, says Rick Jones, a senior adviser in Latin America for Catholic Relief Services. 鈥淭hey have trouble protecting their own people at risk, let alone people from third countries,鈥� he says. Under Guatemala鈥檚 last administration, state funding was cut for the few shelters, like Casa del Migrante, that serve asylum-seekers, migrants, and deportees.聽

鈥淔ew are seeking asylum here,鈥� says the Rev. Mauro Verzeletti, director of Casa del Migrante, which houses about 50 people daily and receives ACA arrivals. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a game of cat and mouse. Hondurans and Salvadorans know the situation in Guatemala. Many are returning to Mexico or trying again in the U.S. There鈥檚 nothing for them here. There鈥檚 nothing for them in their own countries. If your life was at risk, what would you do?鈥�

鈥淭he state doesn鈥檛 have the capacity to address these situations.鈥�

The United Nations has provided support to the Guatemalan government since its asylum program鈥檚 inception, and that involvement has increased since the number of people seeking international protection shot up around 2017. It鈥檚 now focused on helping Guatemalan authorities modernize, expand, and streamline the system.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not as strange as one might think,鈥� to offer asylum in a country where there are large numbers of people leaving to seek protection elsewhere, says Rebecca Cenalmor-Rejas, the head of The U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Guatemala. Ms. Cenalmor-Rejas cites examples like Colombia, which has one of the world鈥檚 highest numbers of people displaced within their own country, but has also taken in of Venezuelans since 2014.

鈥淕uatemala has a nascent asylum system with some limitations, and many opportunities for improvement,鈥� she says.

The Trump administration says ACA helps drive down the number of migrants asking for asylum in the U.S. and that Guatemala is a safe place for migrants to seek protection.

Guatemala鈥檚 central migration office is a tall, Brutalist-style building, with a steady stream of visitors walking through a metal detector at the front door. In a shared office beyond the posters warning about child trafficking, as well as the residual Christmas decor still hanging from the ceiling, a spokeswoman for Guatemala鈥檚 migration agency, Alejandra Mena, prints off pages of asylum statistics.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no limit on how many requests for asylum we鈥檒l take,鈥� Ms. Mena says. 鈥淏ut the U.S. has respected the number of people we can manage right now.鈥� Some 789 people via ACA as of March 3, and she says they are given the option to apply for asylum or return to their home country.

鈥淎 recognized refugee has all the rights 鈥� and obligations 鈥� of a Guatemalan citizen,鈥� Ms. Mena says, including access to hospitals, education, public services, and employment.

Search for stability

That guarantee has proved complicated for people like 19-year-old Jonathan, a refugee who arrived from Honduras almost two years ago. He sits on the sunny second floor of the Ra铆ces聽de Amor shelter for migrant and refugee minors on a recent morning, recounting how Guatemala was never part of his plan.

He came from a life of crime and drug use in coastal Honduras, he says. After fleeing violence at home 鈥� some of which he participated in 鈥� he fell in with some 鈥渂ad characters鈥� on the Mexico-Guatemala border, he says, who convinced him to help rob migrants heading toward the U.S. They promised to help feed his drug addiction.

鈥淲hen you鈥檙e young, you don鈥檛 think things through,鈥� he says of his 17-year-old self. 鈥淚 got into trouble; I suffered. I wasn鈥檛 a great person.鈥�

Since arriving at the shelter, he鈥檚 studied and had access to a social worker and medical attention. He says he鈥檚 a new person and now dreams of going to college to study psychology.

Refugee status granted, he moved out of the shelter last July, with high hopes of finding work and saving up for school. But he鈥檚 hit a dead end. Although being a refugee entitles him to all the rights of a Guatemalan national, he can鈥檛 get formal work, buy a phone, or open a bank account because he doesn鈥檛 have a national identification card. That would require a mountain of paperwork and fees that he estimates would cost him roughly $200.

鈥淚f it weren鈥檛 for this shelter, I鈥檇 be dead in the street by now,鈥� he says, before going downstairs for lunch.

He鈥檚 tried picking up odd jobs at bodegas and other shops in his neighborhood, presenting his r茅sum茅 and paperwork recognizing he鈥檚 in Guatemala legally. But 鈥渢hey ask where I鈥檓 from and the conversation stops. 鈥極h, I can鈥檛 hire a Honduran.鈥� It鈥檚 so upsetting,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 something inside me I want to give the world, and I kept being told no.鈥�

Overall, the teens here are grateful for the protection that Guatemala 鈥� and this shelter 鈥� has provided them. But their stories underscore the shortcomings of Guatemala鈥檚 social welfare system and the asylum system in its current state.

Another young woman here, Blanca, fled gang threats in Honduras two years ago with no destination in mind. After arriving in Guatemala, the pregnant teen was nearly taken by human traffickers. When she went to the police she was placed in a 鈥渟afe home鈥� for troubled children 鈥� institutions known for widespread abuse and worse 鈥� for more than a year. She was almost deported back to Honduras without hearing about the possibility of asylum. A sympathetic judge, who said he wouldn鈥檛 deport her because of her Guatemalan-born son, sent her case to El Refugio de la Ni帽ez, which launched a program for minors seeking refuge in 2016. It helped her prepare paperwork for asylum, provided therapy, and encouraged her to start thinking about a future again. Through the organization, which receives funding from the UNHCR, she鈥檚 been able to study and take job-training courses.

鈥淚 have more opportunity here in Guatemala,鈥� she says, acknowledging that few people in Honduras dream of seeking opportunity in the country next door.

There are about 10 youth with similar stories at the Ra铆ces de Amor shelter right now. Staff members say many Guatemalans question how they 鈥� or the government 鈥� can be giving resources to youth from other troubled nations when so many children here are already at risk. There are in state and privately run homes here, in a country of 17 million.

鈥淲e can work with this number of asylum-seekers and maybe a little more,鈥� says Karen Revolorio, spokeswoman for El Refugio de la Ni帽ez, which runs a network of shelters, including this one. But that鈥檚 because of outside support like the UNHCR, she says. If a higher proportion of people arriving via ACA start seeking asylum in Guatemala, she鈥檚 鈥渘ot sure [they鈥檒l] see the same results as these teens.鈥�

Back at Casa del Migrante, it鈥檚 almost time for lights out. Toddlers and small children are herded upstairs one by one to brush their teeth and snuggle into their dorms with their shellshocked mothers and fathers.

People arriving through ACA are 鈥減aranoid, distressed; they don鈥檛 know if it鈥檚 day or night. They鈥檝e all been in detention and they arrive here without information,鈥� says Mr. Verzeletti, the priest. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a form of torture.鈥�

And despite efforts by the U.S. to deter migrants via 鈥渢he wall, 鈥楻emain in Mexico,鈥� and ACA, this flow of migration won鈥檛 stop,鈥� he says.

It鈥檚 something that, despite the suffering, actually gives him hope.

鈥淢igration is hope. People, just by moving, that鈥檚 a sign that they have hope鈥� for their futures, somewhere, Mr. Verzeletti says.