Guatemala gives Rubio a second deportation deal for migrants being sent home from the U.S.

Guatemala agrees to accept U.S. deportees, expanding capacity to include migrants from other countries.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo said Wednesday (February 5, 2025) his country will accept migrants from other countries who are being deported from the United States, the second deportation deal that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration.

Under the agreement announced by Arévalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at U.S. expense.

“We have agreed to increase by 40% the number of flights of deportees both of our nationality as well as deportees from other nationalities,” Arévalo said at a news conference with Rubio.

Previously, including under the Biden administration, Guatemala had been accepting on average seven to eight flights of its citizens from the U.S. per week. Under President Donald Trump it's also been one of the countries that have had migrants returned on U.S. military planes.

El Salvador announced a similar but broader agreement on Monday. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said his country would accept U.S. deportees of any nationality, including American citizens and legal residents who are imprisoned for violent crimes.

Both Trump and Rubio acknowledged the legal uncertainty of sending Americans to another country for imprisonment.

“I’m just saying if we had a legal right to do it, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Trump told reporters Tuesday in the Oval Office. “I don’t know if we do or not, we’re looking at that right now.”