BOSTON, Jan 25 (Reuters) – A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s push to terminate the legal status of more than 8,400 family members of U.S. citizens and green card holders who moved to the United States from seven Latin American countries.
Boston-based U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a preliminary injunction late on Saturday that prevents the Department of Homeland Security from ending the humanitarian parole granted to thousands of people from Cuba, Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
They had been allowed to move to the United States under family reunification parole programs that were created or modernized by Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration.
Since Republican President Donald Trump succeeded Biden, his administration has ramped up immigration enforcement with $170 billion budgeted for immigration agencies through September 2029, a historic sum.
Under the family reunification programs, U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, also known as green card holders, could apply to serve as sponsors for family members in those seven countries, letting them live in the U.S. while they waited for their immigrant visas to become available.
The Homeland Security Department said on December 12 it was ending the programs on the grounds that they were inconsistent with Trump’s immigration enforcement priorities and were abused to allow “poorly vetted aliens to circumvent the traditional parole process.”
The termination was originally set to take effect January 14, but Talwani issued a temporary restraining order blocking it for 14 days while she considered whether to issue Saturday’s longer-term injunction.
Talwani said the department, led by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, had provided no support for its fraud concerns or considered whether individuals could feasibly return to their home countries, where many had sold homes or left jobs.
“The Secretary could not provide a reasoned explanation of the agency’s change in policy without acknowledging these interests,” wrote Talwani, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama. “Accordingly, failure to do so was arbitrary and capricious.”
The department did not respond to a request for comment.
The ruling came in a class action lawsuit pursued by immigrant rights advocates challenging the administration’s broader rollback of temporary parole granted to hundreds of thousands of migrants.
Talwani earlier in that case blocked the administration from ending grants of parole to about 430,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, but the Supreme Court lifted her order, which an appeals court later overturned.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston;Editing by Helen Popper)
Guatemala’s interior minister accused gangs of killing seven police on Sunday in retaliation for the government’s refusal to transfer gang leaders to a lower-security prison.
The killings occurred a day after gang member inmates took 46 people hostage in three prisons across the country. Police regained control of one of them on Sunday.
“I am deeply saddened by the deaths of seven National Civil Police officers who were cowardly attacked by these terrorists in response to the actions the Guatemalan state is taking against them,” Interior Minister Marco Antonio Villeda told a press conference.
Since mid-2025, gang members have staged uprisings at prisons to demand their leaders be held in less-restricted conditions.
Villeda said Saturday that the government would not reinstate the prisoners’ “privileges.”
Members of the National Civil Police stand next to redetained inmates lying on the ground, following security forces regaining control of the Renovacion 1 prison where inmates rioted and took hostages to demand greater privileges for a gang leader, in a location given as Escuintla, Guatemala, in this handout image released on January 18, 2026.
NATIONAL CIVIL POLICE via Reuters
Guatemala is plagued by criminal violence, mainly perpetrated by the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gangs, which are considered terrorist organizations by the Central American country and the United States.
Barrio 18 and MS-13 are rivals, battling for territorial control in Guatemala by extorting shopkeepers, transport workers and civilians.
In October, Guatemalan authorities reported that 20 leaders of the Barrio 18 gang had escaped from a prison. Only six have been recaptured, while another was shot and killed.
Guatemala ended last year with a homicide rate of 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, more than double the global average.
Last month, at least 12 bodies were found in a wooded area on the outskirts of Guatemala City, and authorities linked the discovery to gang violence.
Last summer, authorities said at least seven people were killed when armed gang members stormed into the funeral of a Barrio 18 member.
In the aftermath of the U.S. military strike that seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3, the Trump administration has emphasized its desire for unfettered access to Venezuela’s oil more than conventional foreign policy objectives, such as combating drug trafficking or bolstering democracy and regional stability.
During his first news conference after the operation, President Trump claimed oil companies would play an important role and that the oil revenue would help fund any further intervention in Venezuela.
Soon after, “Fox & Friends” hosts asked Trump about this prediction.
As a historian of U.S.-Latin American relations, I’m not surprised that oil or any other commodity is playing a role in U.S. policy toward the region. What has taken me aback, though, is the Trump administration’s openness about how much oil is driving its policies toward Venezuela.
As I’ve detailed recently, U.S. military intervention in Latin America has largely been covert. And when the U.S. orchestrated the coup that ousted Guatemala’s democratically elected president in 1954, the U.S. covered up the role that economic considerations played in that operation.
By the early 1950s, Guatemala had become a top source for the bananas Americans consumed, as it remains today.
The United Fruit Company, based in Boston, owned more than 550,000 acres of Guatemalan land, largely thanks to its deals with previous dictatorships. These holdings required the intense labor of impoverished farmworkers who were often forced from their traditional lands. Their pay was rarely stable, and they faced periodic layoffs and wage cuts.
The company’s seemingly unlimited clout in the countries where it operated gave rise to the stereotype of Central American nations as “banana republics.”
In Guatemala, a country historically marked by extreme inequality, a broad coalition formed in 1944 to overthrow its repressive dictatorship in a popular uprising. Inspired by the anti-fascistideals of World War II, the coalition sought to make the nation more democratic and its economy more fair.
After decades of repression, the nation democratically elected Juan José Arévalo and then Jacobo Árbenz, under whom, in 1952, Guatemala implemented a land reform program that gave landless farmworkers their own undeveloped plots. Guatemala’s government asserted that these policies would build a more equitable society for Guatemala’s impoverished, Indigenous majority.
United Fruit sought to enlist the U.S. government in its fight against the elected government’s policies. While its executives did complain that Guatemala’s reforms hurt its financial investments and labor costs, they also cast any interference in its operations as part of a broader communist plot.
United Fruit executives began to meet with officials in the Truman administration as early as 1945. Despite the support of sympathetic ambassadors, the U.S. government apparently wouldn’t intervene directly in Guatemala’s affairs.
The company turned to Congress.
It hired well connected lobbyists to portray Guatemala’s policies as part of a communist plot to destroy capitalism and the United States. In February 1949, multiple members of Congress denounced Guatemala’s labor reforms as communist.
Sen. Claude Pepper called the labor code “obviously intentionally discriminatory against this American company” and “a machine gun aimed at the head of this American company.”
Seventy-seven years later, we may see many echoes of past interventions, but now the U.S. government has dropped the veil: In his appearance after the strike that seized Maduro this month, Trump said “oil” 21 times.
Aaron Coy Moulton is an associate professor of Latin American history at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas and the author of “Caribbean Blood Pacts: Guatemala and the Cold War Struggle for Freedom.” This article was produced in collaboration with the Conversation.
The U.S. plans to eliminate tariffs on bananas, coffee, beef and certain apparel and textile products under framework agreements with four Latin American nations, a senior administration official told reporters Thursday.
The expected move—which would apply to some goods from Ecuador, Argentina, El Salvador and Guatemala—is part of a shift from the Trump administration to water down some of its so-called reciprocal tariffs in the midst of rising prices for consumers, as well as legal uncertainty after a Supreme Court hearing this month.
Washington — The Trump administration has reached frameworks for reciprocal trade agreements with Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador and Ecuador, the White House announced Thursday, although details of the frameworks are still emerging.
The tariff rate for most goods from Guatemala, El Salvador and Argentina will continue to be 10%, while Ecuador will remain at 15%, senior administration officials told reporters on a briefing call. But there will be tariff relief on a number of items, particularly those that can’t be grown in the U.S. Senior administration officials didn’t list those items, nor do the joint statements about the frameworks released by the White House, but one senior administration official anticipated that coffee and bananas from Ecuador, for instance, would see tariff relief.
“The United States commits to remove its reciprocal tariffs on certain qualifying exports from Ecuador that cannot be grown, mined, or naturally produced in the United States in sufficient quantities,” the framework joint statement for Ecuador released by the White House says.
Senior administration officials couldn’t provide details on how the trade agreements would affect the cost of goods like coffee, cocoa or bananas, which the U.S. imports from Central and South American nations, although one senior administration official said it would likely have “positive” effects.
Those specific commodities are important because “we don’t make those in the United States,” the official said.
“Our expectation is that there will be some positive effects for prices for things like coffee, cocoa, bananas,” the official said.
The White House said the administration will work to finalize the agreements in the coming weeks.
Senior administration officials said the agreement frameworks are largely focused on allowing those foreign markets to accept more U.S. goods. Generally, the agreements also aim to open up markets to import U.S. agricultural products and to prohibit imposing digital services taxes on U.S. companies.
The D.C. United right back started his pro career representing the United States. Now, the 28-year-old is part of a revitalized Guatemalan side looking to qualify for its first-ever World Cup.
WTOP celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month this Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, with stories spotlighting the contributions, culture and accomplishments of Hispanic communities across the D.C. region.
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DC United’s Aaron Herrera embraces his Guatemala roots
On a dark, quiet evening in Panama City, Aaron Herrera was relaxing with his teammates of the Guatemala men’s soccer national team by playing cards before resting for a World Cup qualifying match.
Suddenly, a large truck pulled up next to the team’s hotel, blaring loud music into their bedrooms. After several minutes, hotel staff removed the truck from the property. As Herrera and his teammates attempted to laugh about the situation, multiple fireworks exploded outside their windows.
“I think it shows how passionate the fans are, and the lengths they’re willing to go to help their team out,” Herrera said. “I respect it. It’s something that shows how passionate these fans are in these countries.”
The tactic — known in Latin American nations as a way to keep opposing players from resting before game day — was something Herrera had mentally prepared for before joining Guatemala. The D.C. United right back started his career representing the United States before being persuaded to switch allegiances to play for Los Chapines.
Now, the 28-year-old is part of a revitalized Guatemalan side looking to qualify for its first-ever World Cup.
Making the switch
Born and raised in Las Cruces, New Mexico, by a Guatemalan father and an American mother, Herrera became a U.S. prospect early. Before playing three seasons with the University of New Mexico, he played on multiple U.S. national youth teams and was a part of the Real Salt Lake Youth Academy.
“Growing up, the dream was always a play for the U.S.,” Herrera said. “They were the team that was here. They were the team that I watched all the time.”
Once he turned pro, he continued to receive call-ups from the U.S., including being named to the 2021 Olympic qualifying team for the Tokyo Games.
However, after making only one appearance on the senior team in 2021 and the growing depth chart at his position, Herrera began examining his international career. A possible option was appealing to FIFA, soccer’s governing body, to make a one-time switch of allegiance to representing Guatemala.
“I didn’t think too far into it, because I didn’t know that it was a real possibility,” Herrera said.
The push grew as Herrera’s then-Salt Lake teammate Rubio Rubin pressured the defender to fill out the paperwork to join Guatemala. Rubin, who also played in the U.S. youth system, had also elected to make the switch to join the Central American side.
“(Rubin) would bug me every day before training and stuff, being like, ‘Hey, when you going to come play for Guate? We’re waiting for you,’” Herrera said, admitting that Rubin helped with submitting the paperwork.
Yet, concerns remained. While Herrera grew up with a Spanish-speaking father, his Spanish was, admittedly, “not very good.”
Guatemalan officials still persisted, with coaches and Rubin assuring him that he would fit in perfectly.
It would take one more year before Herrera completed the process and joined Los Chapines.
“Everyone over there is really nice,” he said. “They welcomed me with open arms from Day One.”
Guatemala-American balance
Since making his debut on July 15, 2023, Herrera has made 18 appearances for Guatemala, becoming a focal point in its attack as a wing player.
Over the summer, Herrera and his teammates led Guatemala to the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament after an upset victory over Canada. During that match, he shined with a diving header save in the first half and scoring his penalty kick in the shootout, earning the nickname “El MVP guatemalteco” by the TURN commentary team.
His status as an American-born player within the Guatemalan national team places extra responsibility to perform in high-pressure moments like the Gold Cup. Herrera said he embraces it, understanding that his American identity will go wherever he goes.
He said the switch helped him grow up and embrace all of his roots.
When he’s in Guatemala, he enjoys eating the local cuisine and spending time with his family. However, he still carries some of his American flair with him.
Herrera admits that he’s working on his “broken Spanish” while his teammates join him in speaking English. During workouts, he plays country or rap music, surprising his entire team’s delegation.
“It’s special being able to blend the two,” Herrera said. “It’s a lot of fun being able to sort of embrace both cultures, both ways.”
Aaron Herrera of Guatemala kicks the ball against the United States during the first half the Gold Cup 2025: Semifinal round at Energizer Park on July 2, 2025 in St. Louis, Missouri.
(Getty Images/Kyle Rivas)
Getty Images/Kyle Rivas
Canada forward Tani Oluwaseyi, left, and Guatemala defender Aaron Herrera (7) battle for the ball during the second half a CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals soccer match Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Minneapolis.
(AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
AP Photo/Abbie Parr
Guatemala’s defender Aaron Herrera celebrates his team’s win at the end the 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup Group D football match between Guadeloupe and Guatemala at the Red Bull Arena, in Harrison, New Jersey on July 4, 2023.
(AFP via Getty Images/KENA BETANCUR)
AFP via Getty Images/KENA BETANCUR
United States defender Aaron Herrera (2) heads the ball in front of Trinidad and Tobago forward Jabari Mitchell (11) during the second half an international friendly soccer match, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021, in Orlando, Fla.
(AP/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
AP/Phelan M. Ebenhack
Guatemala defender Aaron Herrera, left, and United States forward Patrick Agyemang battle for control of the ball during the second half a CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal soccer match, Wednesday, July 2, 2025, in St. Louis.
(AP/Scott Kane)
AP/Scott Kane
Aaron Herrera #7 of Guatemala controls the ball against Cuba during the first half at DRV PNK Stadium on June 27, 2023 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
(Getty Images/Megan Briggs)
Getty Images/Megan Briggs
Personal growth
The switch allows Herrera to make trips to Guatemala more frequently, even if it is for soccer-related reasons. Before that, he had last visited the country when he was 6 years old. Family members travel from a neighborhood in Guatemala City to watch him play.
His father, Diego Herrera, thinks “it’s the best thing ever” that his son is on the Guatemalan national team, Aaron Herrera said. Diego arrived to the U.S. at 15 years old, so he did not have the chance to become a professional soccer player.
Now, Diego travels to all over North America and the Caribbean with his mother, Aaron’s grandmother, to watch his son play.
“For him, he’s able to sort of live his dream through me a little bit,” Aaron Herrera said. “All the fans know who he is. … He’s got this big bald head that everyone can spot from a mile away, and so he’s taking pictures with all the fans.”
When he is back in D.C., Herrera said he meets a Guatemala fan “at least once a day.” His wife Lily helps “shell-shocked” fans take their photo with her husband.
Once, a group of construction workers near his home in D.C. pulled over their truck to meet Herrera and thank him for joining Guatemala.
For Herrera, representing Guatemala is “very special to me.”
Now, all of his focus shifts toward helping Guatemala qualify for the 2026 World Cup. While it is a personal goal to play in the tournament, helping Guatemala qualify would be “the biggest thing that I could possibly achieve in my career,” Herrera said.
“I’ve grown a ton as a player, as a teammate, as a friend, and just overall as a person,” Herrera said. “I think it’s a big credit to Guatemala and them welcoming me there.”
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SunBody hats are worn by anyone from cowboys to actors. Discover the craftsmanship and collaboration woven into each palm leaf hat.
HOUSTON, Texas — SunBody Hats, a business based in Houston, is renowned for its durable, natural palm leaf hats. However, behind each hand-woven brim lies a deeper story that begins thousands of miles away in Guatemala.
A federal judge on Sunday blocked the Trump administration from sending any unaccompanied migrant child to Guatemala unless they have a deportation order, just hours after lawyers alerted her of what they described as a hurried government effort to deport hundreds of children.
U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle Sooknanan issued her order as the deportation effort was fully underway, with planes with migrant children on board ready to take off from Texas.
Earlier Sunday, in the overnight hours, Sooknanan issued a temporary restraining order barring officials from sending a group of 10 migrant children between the ages of 10 and 17 to Guatemala, granting a request from attorneys who alleged the effort would skirt legal protections Congress established for these minors. She also scheduled a hearing in the afternoon to weigh the case’s next steps.
But Sooknanan abruptly moved up the hearing earlier on Sunday, saying she had been alerted that some migrant children were already in the process of being deported.
As that hearing got underway, Sooknanan announced she had just issued a broader temporary restraining order blocking any deportations of unaccompanied children from Guatemala and in U.S. custody who did not have a deportation order. She instructed Drew Ensign, the Justice Department representing the Trump administration, to quickly inform officials they had to halt their deportation plans.
Ensign acknowledged deportation planes had been prepared to take off on Sunday, but said they were all “on the ground” and still on U.S. soil. He said he believed one plane had taken off earlier but had come back.
At the request of Sooknanan, Ensign said he confirmed that the children on the planes would be deplaned and returned to the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for caring for migrant minors who enter the U.S. without authorization and without their parents or legal guardians.
HHS houses unaccompanied children in shelters or foster homes until they turn 18 or until they can be placed with a suitable sponsor in the U.S., who are often family members.
Sooknanan conceded her temporary restraining order, which is set to last 14 days, is “extraordinary” but justified it on the grounds that the government had decided to “execute a plan to remove these children” in the “wee hours” of a holiday weekend.
In their lawsuit, lawyers for the group of Guatemalan children said the Trump administration had launched an effort to deport more than 600 migrant minors to Guatemala without allowing them to request humanitarian protection, even though U.S. law protects them from speedy deportations. They alleged the children could face abuse, neglect or persecution if returned to Guatemala.
Ensign, the Justice Department attorney, said the Trump administration was not trying to formally deport the Guatemalan children under U.S. immigration law, but instead repatriate them to Guatemala so they could reunite with relatives there. He said the Guatemalan government and the children’s relatives had requested the reunifications.
But lawyers for the children disputed the government’s claims, citing one case in which they say a child’s parents did not request any repatriation. They also said a law known as the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act says unaccompanied migrant children who are not from Mexico must be allowed to see an immigration judge and apply for legal protections before any deportation effort. Some of the children facing return to Guatemala still have pending immigration cases, the attorneys said.
Ensign said the government’s legal position is that it can “repatriate” these children, based on authority given to HHS to reunite “unaccompanied alien children with a parent abroad in appropriate cases.”
Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the deportation plans.
Neha Desai, an attorney at the California-based National Center for Youth Law who works with migrant minors, said the U.S. government was attempting to deport children with “already filed claims for legal relief based on the abuse and persecution that they experienced in their home country.”
“This is both unlawful and profoundly inhumane,” Desai added.
Most of the unaccompanied children who cross the U.S. southern border without legal permission hail from Central America and tend to be teenagers. Once in the U.S., many file applications for asylum or other immigration benefits to try to stay in the country legally, such as a visa for abused, abandoned or neglected youth.
As part of its larger crackdown on illegal immigration, the Trump administration has sought to make drastic changes to how the U.S. processes unaccompanied children. It has made it harder for some relatives, including those in the country illegally, to sponsor unaccompanied children out of government custody and offered some teenagers the option to voluntary return to their native countries.
The Trump administration has also directed agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies to conduct “welfare checks” on children released from HHS custody, a move it has said is in response to disputed claims that the Biden administration “lost” hundreds of thousands of migrant minors.
There are currently roughly 2,000 migrant children in HHS care.
U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan, serving as the emergency judge over the Labor Day weekend, issued an emergency order early Sunday that halted the Trump administration’s apparent plan to deport more than 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan children.
The order came just hours after immigrant advocacy groups filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the unannounced removals.
Sooknanan rescheduled a hearing from 3 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. after learning that some children were already being prepared for removal. In her ruling, Sooknanan ordered the government to immediately cease all efforts to transfer or repatriate any child covered by the lawsuit, which was filed by the National Immigration Law Center (NILC). The putative class includes all Guatemalan minors in federal custody as of August 31 who do not have final removal orders.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House for comment via email on Sunday.
Why It Matters
As of August 2025, there are just under 2,000 children in Health and Human Services (HHS) custody, with a majority originating from Central American countries like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, according to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
The Trump administration has carried out more so-called welfare checks of immigrant children across the U.S. and has ramped up enforcement actions such as placing children in expedited removal proceedings. Immigrant advocates have raised concerns about these practices. Unaccompanied children are considered a protected and vulnerable group.
The case raises urgent questions about the treatment of vulnerable migrant children and the erosion of legal safeguards under federal immigration law. At stake are protections enshrined in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), which mandates due process and prohibits expedited removal of unaccompanied minors from non-contiguous countries. The lawsuit also highlights concerns about discrimination, lack of access to counsel, and potential violations of the Fifth Amendment.
What To Know
Sooknanan’s order came after attorneys alerted the court that Guatemalan children were already being moved toward removal. The judge instructed the government to stop all transfers and confirmed that the class includes minors in the custody of the ORR who lack executable removal orders.
During the hearing, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign acknowledged that one flight may have departed but returned. He added all children covered by the lawsuit remain in U.S. custody and no further flights will leave under the court’s directive. Attorneys for the children said some remain on planes in Harlingen and El Paso, Texas, ABC News reported.
The NILC lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of coordinating with the Guatemalan government to repatriate more than 600 minors without legal hearings. The complaint argues that this violates federal statutes protecting unaccompanied children and denies them the opportunity to seek asylum or contest removal.
According to NILC attorneys, the Trump administration intended to deport the children within hours under a “pilot program” coordinated with the Guatemalan government. The plan reportedly included transferring minors from ORR custody to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for removal, bypassing ongoing immigration proceedings.
Federal law exempts unaccompanied children from expedited removal and guarantees them access to immigration court hearings. The lawsuit argues that the administration’s actions violate TVPRA, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), and constitutional due process rights.
The complaint, filed just after 1 a.m. Sunday, names 10 plaintiffs identified only by initials, ranging in age from 10 to 17. Two are listed simply as “minors.” The emergency relief motion followed within 30 minutes.
Though the case has not yet been formally assigned, Sooknanan is presiding due to her emergency designation.
A similar lawsuit filed Saturday in federal court in Chicago led to a temporary halt of deportations for four Guatemalan minors. U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to review that case. Former President Joe Biden appointed both judges.
NILC attorneys argue that the children face grave risks if returned to Guatemala, including persecution and trauma. They accuse the administration of violating its legal obligations and undermining the rights of asylum-seeking minors.
Part of a group of 92 unaccompanied Guatemalan migrant minors who were deported from Mexico arrive to their country at the Air Force Base in Guatemala City on February 7, 2023. Part of a group of 92 unaccompanied Guatemalan migrant minors who were deported from Mexico arrive to their country at the Air Force Base in Guatemala City on February 7, 2023. Johan Ordonez/Getty Images
What People Are Saying
Efrén C. Olivares, vice president of litigation and legal strategy at the NILC, said: “It is a dark and dangerous moment for this country when our government chooses to target orphaned 10-year-olds and denies them their most basic legal right to present their case before an immigration judge. The Constitution and federal laws provide robust protections to unaccompanied minors specifically because of the unique risks they face. We are determined to use every legal tool at our disposal to force the administration to respect the law and not send any child to danger.”
The NILC legal filing said: “Defendants’ actions are thus exposing children to multiple harms in returning them to a country where they fear persecution and by flouting their legal obligations to care for them in the United States.”
Gladis Molina Alt, executive director for the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, previously told Newsweek: “Every child in U.S. custody has the right to due process, to seek protection under current asylum law, legal counsel, and an individualized decision that hears their claim for protection first. To strip away those protections is to put children’s lives on the line. We will not stand by while the government treats children as political pawns instead of human beings with rights, voices, and futures.”
Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, previously told Newsweek: “Reports that the administration is planning to return hundreds of unaccompanied Guatemalan children raise serious concerns about whether due process and child welfare standards are being upheld.
“Protections for these children were enacted with bipartisan support to ensure that vulnerable children are screened for trafficking, abuse, or fear of persecution before any decision is made about their future. Any new policy must be consistent with these longstanding legal protections and grounded in child welfare best practices.”
What Happens Next?
The court will continue reviewing the case to determine whether the emergency order should be extended or converted into a preliminary injunction. If the administration is found to have violated federal law, broader restrictions on deportation procedures for unaccompanied minors may follow.
Additional hearings and filings are expected in the coming days.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is planning to remove nearly 700 Guatemalan children who had come to the U.S. without their parents, according to a letter sent Friday by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, and the Central American country said it was ready to take them in.
The removals would violate the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s “child welfare mandate and this country’s long-established obligation to these children,” Wyden told Angie Salazar, acting director of the office within the Department of Health and Human Services that is responsible for migrant children who arrive in the U.S. alone.
“This move threatens to separate children from their families, lawyers, and support systems, to thrust them back into the very conditions they are seeking refuge from, and to disappear vulnerable children beyond the reach of American law and oversight,” the Democratic senator wrote, asking for the deportation plans to be terminated.
Guatemalan Foreign Affairs Minister Carlos Martínez said Friday that the government has told the U.S. it is willing to receive hundreds of Guatemalan minors who arrived unaccompanied to the United States and are being held in U.S. facilities.
Guatemala is particularly concerned about minors who could age out of the facilities for children and be sent to adult detention centers, he said. The exact number of children to be returned remains in flux, but they are currently discussing a little over 600. He said no date has been set yet for their return.
That would be almost double what Guatemala previously agreed to. The head of the country’s immigration service said last month that the government was looking to repatriate 341 unaccompanied minors who were being held in U.S. facilities.
“The idea is to bring them back before they reach 18 years old so that they are not taken to an adult detention center,” Guatemala Immigration Institute Director Danilo Rivera said at the time. He said it would be done at Guatemala’s expense and would be a form of voluntary return.
The plan was announced by President Bernardo Arévalo, who said then that the government had a moral and legal obligation to advocate for the children. His comments came days after U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Guatemala.
Wyden’s letter says the children ‘will be forcibly removed’
The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the latest move, which was first reported by CNN.
Quoting unidentified whistleblowers, Wyden’s letter said children who do not have a parent or legal guardian as a sponsor or who don’t have an asylum case already underway, “will be forcibly removed from the country.”
“Unaccompanied children are some of the most vulnerable children entrusted to the government’s care,” Wyden wrote. “In many cases, these children and their families have had to make the unthinkable choice to face danger and separation in search of safety.”
The idea of repatriating such a large number of children to their home country also raised concerns with activists who work with children navigating the immigration process.
“We are outraged by the Trump administration’s renewed assault on the rights of immigrant children,” said Lindsay Toczylowski, president and CEO of Immigrant Defenders Law Center. “We are not fooled by their attempt to mask these efforts as mere ‘repatriations.’ This is yet another calculated attempt to sever what little due process remains in the immigration system.”
Due to their age and the trauma unaccompanied immigrant children have often experienced getting to the U.S., their treatment is one of the most sensitive issues in immigration. Advocacy groups already have sued to ask courts to halt new Trump administration vetting procedures for unaccompanied children, saying the changes are keeping families separated longer and are inhumane.
Migrant children traveling without their parents or guardians are handed over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement when they are encountered by officials along the U.S.-Mexico border. Once in the U.S., they often live in government-supervised shelters or with foster care families until they can be released to a sponsor — usually a family member — living in the country.
They can request asylum, juvenile immigration status or visas for victims of sexual exploitation.
Migrants are coming to the U.S.-Mexico border in record numbers. Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo spoke with CBS News senior White House and political correspondent Ed O’Keefe about the issue.
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The outgoing president of Guatemala has announced he will oversee an “orderly and transparent transition” of power to Bernardo Arevalo, winner of the 2023 presidential race.
But the statement from President Alejandro Giammattei comes amid criticism that members of his government are attempting to destabilise Arevalo’s political party and call into question his victory.
On Tuesday, Giammattei posted a video on social media addressing the election results and promising to meet Arevalo on September 4, ahead of the president-elect’s swearing-in ceremony in January.
“The doors are now open towards an orderly, transparent and, above all, efficient government transition,” Giammettei said.
But the video comes less than a day after Guatemala’s electoral registry suspended Arevalo’s party, the Movimiento Semilla or the Seed Movement — the latest twist in an election marred by controversy.
That suspension, which arrived within hours of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal certifying the election results, provoked widespread outrage. Arevalo himself dismissed the suspension as illegal.
“No one can impede me from taking office on January 14,” Arevalo said at a press conference on Monday.
By Tuesday, Seed Movement lawyer Juan Gerardo Guerrero told reporters the party had filed an appeal, petitioning the country’s election court to overturn the suspension.
The Seed Movement, a progressive party, was formed in 2017 on a platform of combatting corruption, a systemic issue in Guatemala.
In June’s general elections, the party outperformed expectations by leaning into the anti-corruption themes. The Seed Movement picked up 23 seats in Congress and saw its presidential candidate, Arevalo, advance to a run-off election.
Arevalo, once a dark-horse candidate, quickly became the frontrunner and ultimately won the run-off in a landslide, with approximately 61 percent of the vote.
But the weeks leading to the final vote were tinged with questions of election interference.
Guatemala’s Constitutional Court briefly suspended the results of the first round of voting, after rival political parties requested a review.
When that procedure upheld the initial results, the Attorney General’s Office moved to suspend the Seed Movement in July, accusing the party of fraudulently submitting 5,000 signatures in its party registration.
The Constitutional Court issued a temporary injunction against the suspension that same month, but the investigation into the party’s signatures has since continued.
Critics have denounced these moves as evidence of “lawfare”, where government institutions like the legal system are weaponised to suppress political opposition.
The Organization of American States (OAS) monitored the election and has called the Seed Movement’s suspension unjustified.
“In this regard an abusive interpretation of the law seeks to suspend its rights after the election in which the political party of the president-elect received broad support,” Luis Almagro, general secretariat of the OAS, said in a social media post on Tuesday.
The United States, likewise, said it was “concerned” by the recent developments in Guatemala.
“Such anti-democratic behavior, including efforts by the Public Ministry and other actors to suspend the President-elect’s political party and intimidate election authorities, undercuts the clear will of the Guatemalan people,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press release on Tuesday.
Monday’s suspension could add to the instability facing Arevalo’s government and hinder other elected representatives from the Seed Movement from joining government commissions.
Arevalo also faces an ongoing challenge from his rival, conservative Sandra Torres, who has filed a complaint alleging voter fraud in the August 20 run-off.
Tiziano Breda, a Central America expert at Italy’s Istituto Affari Internazionali, told The Associated Press that the country’s political establishment has fought hard to roll back the results of the election.
“Even if they don’t manage to, this will have an implication of hindering a transition to Arevalo’s presidency,” he added.
Critics have long accused the Guatemalan government of using the legal system to stifle dissent and consolidate power. Journalists, judges and anti-corruption lawyers have all faced prosecution for what many believe to be false charges, designed to eliminate threats to the status quo.
The latest case came on Monday, with the arrest of Claudia Gonzalez, a former employee of the United Nations-backed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).
In recent years, more than 30 legal professionals involved in anti-corruption efforts have fled the country for fear of arrest.
Anti-corruptioncandidate Bernardo Arévalo, from the progressive Movimiento Semilla party, appeared to have won Guatemala’s presidential election on Sunday,beating former first lady Sandra Torres in a race marred by fears of democratic backsliding.
Speaking to reporters shortly after preliminary election results showed him winning a majority, Arévalo said the people have “spoken loudly.”
“What the people are shouting at us is: ‘Enough of so much corruption’ – This is a demonstration of the change of mind that we are witnessing in Guatemala,” he said. “Guatemalans today have hope and we are celebrating in the streets the recovery of the sense of hope in our country.”
He added that he had already received calls from President Alejandro Giammattei congratulating him on his victory as well as the presidents of Mexico and El Salvador.
With more than 95% of the ballots counted, Arévalo won 59.1% of the vote compared to Torres’ 36.1%, according to official data from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
It marks a stunning win for the former diplomat who reinvigorated a race that has been plagued by controversy after the state disqualified opposition candidates who spoke out against corruption – drawing concerns from rights groups and Western allies.
“Corruption is a phenomenon that has penetrated the different institutions of society and has infiltrated the different spaces. Our task will be to recover those spaces,” Arévalo said Sunday.
The president of the electoral tribunal, Irma Palencia, said during a press conference on Sunday night that “today, the people voice’s spoke,” as it became apparent that Arévalo had won by a large margin.
In a post on X, formally known as Twitter, Arévalo wrote: “Long live Guatemala!”
Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei congratulated Arévalo for his win in a post on X, saying he would “extend the invitation to start the ordered transition the day after the results are official.”
The center-left politician Arévalo tapped into widespread public discontent with his promises to curb crime and corruption, tackle malnutrition, and bring growth to a country that has one of the highest levels of inequality in the region.
Achieving those goals won’t be easy for Arévalo, whose father was the country’s first democratically elected president, as Congress is set to be largely controlled by establishment parties, including Torres’ Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza.
Analysts caution there could also be attempts to undermine the victory by Arévalo, pointing to efforts by state actors to disqualify him after his surprise second place finish during the first round of voting in June.
A Guatemalan court suspended his Movimiento Semilla party on the request of Rafael Curruchiche, who heads the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity and is on the US State Department’s Engel Listof “corrupt and undemocratic actors.”
Curruchiche said they were investigating Movimiento Semilla for allegedly falsifying citizens’ signatures – a claim Arévalo has denied.
His win comes as regional observers say rising kleptocracy, graft and weakening rule of law have exacerbated inequality in the Central American country, driving thousands of Guatemalans to move to the United States in recent years.
The situation worsened after a United Nations-backed anti-corruption commission, known as CICIG, credited for assisting in hundreds of convictions, was dissolved in 2019, rights groups say.
Prosecutors and judges associated with the commission were arrested and investigated and many have since fled the country. The ensuing years have seen high rates of poverty and malnutrition.
Members of the media who have opposed corruption in their reporting have also faced legal consequences. This year, prominent Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora was sentenced to six years in prison for money laundering, in a ruling press groups described as an attack on free speech.
Mexico’s immigration agency said late Friday it found 491 migrants being held at a compound by the side of a highway east of Mexico City.
All but six of the migrants were from Guatemala. The others are Hondurans.
There were 277 children and adolescents among the migrants, most of whom were traveling with relatives. But there were also 52 unaccompanied minors.
The migrants were being held in a walled compound near the city of Puebla, along a route frequently used by migrant smugglers. The migrants were taken to offices of the Mexico’s National Institute of Migration.
“They were transferred to headquarters of the National Institute of Migration to provide them with water, food and medical attention,” the organization said in a statement.
Smugglers in Mexico frequently hide migrants at such compounds until they can be taken aboard buses or trucks to the U.S. border.
The Biden administration instituted stricter asylum rules in an effort to contain the surge of illegal migration to the United States. In June CBS News reported that the number of migrants plummeted that month but the DHS still expects to see a “lot of migration in coming weeks and months.”
A busload of 49 migrants arrived in Los Angeles on Friday afternoon, the seventh such busload since June 14, CBS Los Angeles reported.
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GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — The Guatemalan government’s clumsy interference with its presidential election has turned a global spotlight on rampant corruption that previously had received only limited international attention.
President Alejandro Giammattei was deeply unpopular at home, but other than occasional reprobation from the United States and Europe, had managed to consolidate his control of the justice system, completely upending a longstanding anti-corruption campaign in the country with little consequence.
The June 25 presidential election may have changed all that. In the days leading up to the vote, it appeared there would be a runoff between a small number of right and extreme right candidates, including Giammattei allies. But with a large number of null votes, many cast in protest, and a campaign that resonated especially with young Guatemalans, progressive candidate Bernardo Arévalo placed second, ensuring his participation in an Aug. 20 runoff.
With tensions surrounding Guatemala’s June 25 election heightening, President Alejandro Giammattei has taken the unusual step of publishing an open letter saying he has no intention of staying in power beyond his term.
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A coalition of press freedom groups expressed concern Wednesday about what they called the “historic” threats facing Guatemalan journalists because of government prosecutions.
Suddenly, it seemed there was a real possibility of choice for Guatemalans who want to change the status quo. That stunned the powers that be, who quickly reacted.
“I think that fear clouded him, blinded him,” Katya Salazar, executive director of the Due Process Foundation, said of Giammattei. She added that Arévalo’s surprise support was “a demonstration of the dissatisfaction” in the Central American country.
“I think he (Giammattei) thought that it would be the same as always,” she said.
Late Wednesday, a federal prosecutor announced that Arévalo’s party, the Seed Movement, had been suspended for allegedly violating election laws. Prosecutors followed up on Thursday morning by raiding the offices of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal just hours after it certified the election results that put Arévalo in the runoff.
At a news conference on Friday, special anti-corruption prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche defended his investigation as serious, objective and impartial. He said the inquiry had taken a year to complete and it was a coincidence that he announced it on the same day the Supreme Electoral Tribunal certified the election results.
“That idea they have that this case arises from political issues is completely false,” Curruchiche said. “We don’t get involved in political issues.”
The prosecutor said his office’s raid of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal on Thursday had produced very valuable information, but he did not go into specifics. He did say that the tribunal’s own documents showed it was aware that 12 signatures collected by the Seed Movement when it was being established in 2018 were those of dead people, yet still allowed them to be registered.
“They didn’t take their responsibility like they should have,” he said.
Earlier Friday, the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that it was carrying out its duty to enforce the country’s laws and not trying to interfere with the second round of voting or keep any candidate from participating in the runoff. Curruchiche said his investigation would continue.
The government’s actions have triggered a domestic and international uproar. In addition to statements of concern from the United States, European Union and Organization of American States, criticism came from other Latin American governments as well as Guatemala’s most powerful private business association.
Even Arévalo’s runoff opponent, conservative former first lady Sandra Torres, joined in, announcing that she would suspend her campaign activities because the competition was uneven while authorities pursued the Seed Movement.
Torres’ UNE party has been a key force in allowing Giammattei to advance his legislative agenda, but it appeared she felt the attack on the Seed party could undermine her own candidacy.
“We want to demonstrate our solidarity with the voters of the Seed party and also with those who came out to vote,” she said. “As a candidate, I want to compete under equal conditions.”
Not long after that, the Constitutional Court, the country’s highest tribunal, provided another blow to the Giammattei administration, granting the Seed Movement’s request for a preliminary injunction against its suspension. That quickly, if temporarily, lowered tensions.
Giammattei, who was barred by law from seeking reelection, kept out of sight. His office issued a statement saying it respects the separation of powers and would not be involved in any judicial processes.
His response had little effect on a population that witnessed how the president had dramatically transformed a nation that until four years ago had hosted an aggressive and productive anti-corruption effort supported by the United Nations. After Giammattei’s predecessor forced out the U.N. mission that supported the fight against graft, the current president systematically forced out prosecutors and judges who were continuing that effort, replacing them with loyalists. Even those who had grown critical of the zealous anti-corruption effort concede the country is much worse off now.
Hundreds protested in front of the Attorney General’s Office on Thursday afternoon.
“We are fed up with the corruption in Guatemala,” said Adolfo Grande, a 25-year-old repair technician. “We want them to let us choose and not to impose who they want.”
Dinora Sentes, a 28-year-old sociologist, said she supports the Seed Movement but was protesting in defense of Guatemala.
“It’s not about defending a party but rather an entire country,” she said. “We have so many needs in education, health, urgent necessities to attend to.”
Arévalo thanked the Constitutional Court as well as the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, which promised to defend the will of voters against government interference.
“The corrupt who have tried to steal these elections from the people today find themselves marginalized,” he said. “Today we are starting the first day of the campaign.”
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Central America is experiencing a wave of unrest that is remarkable even for a region whose history is riddled with turbulence. The most recent example is political upheaval in Guatemala as the country heads for a runoff presidential election in August.
A look at various events roiling Central American countries:
Guatemala
Costa Rica and the U.S. government have agreed to open potential legal pathways to the United States for some of the Nicaraguan and Venezuelan migrants among the 240,000 asylum seekers already awaiting asylum in the Central American country.
Despite a dissuasion campaign by the U.S. government, migrants are headed toward its southern border in growing numbers ahead of the end of pandemic-era asylum restrictions and proposed new restrictions on those seeking asylum.
Costa Rica’s president is promising to put more police in the streets and he wants legal changes to confront record-setting numbers of homicides that have shaken daily life in a country long known for peaceful stability.
Guatemala is locked in the most troubled presidential election in the country’s recent history. The first round of elections in June ended with a surprise twist when little known progressive candidate Bernardo Arévalo of the Seed Movement party pulled ahead as a front-runner.
Now headed to an August runoff election with conservative candidate and top vote-getter Sandra Torres, Arévalo has thus far managed to survive judicial attacks and attempts by Guatemala’s political establishment to disqualify his party. It comes after other moves by the country’s government to manage the election, including banning several candidates before the first-round vote.
While not entirely unprecedented in a country known for high levels of corruption, American officials call the latest escalation a threat to the country’s democracy.
El Salvador
El Salvador has been radically transformed in the past few years with the entrance of populist millennial President Nayib Bukele. One year ago, Bukele entered an all-out war with the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatruchas, or MS-13, gangs. He suspended constitutional rights and threw 1 in every 100 people in the country into prisons that have fueled allegations of mass human rights abuses.
The sharp dip in violence that followed Bukele’s actions, combined with an elaborate propaganda machine, has ignited a pro-Bukele populist fervor across the region, with other governments trying to mimic the Bitcoin-pushing leader.
At the same time, Bukele has announced he will run for reelection in February next year despite the constitution prohibiting it. He has also made moves that observers warn are gradually dismantling the nation’s democracy.
Nicaragua
President Daniel Ortega is in an all-out crackdown on dissent. For years, regional watchdogs and the U.S. government raised alarms that democracy was eroding under the leader of the Sandinista National Liberation Front. That came to a head in 2018 when Ortega’s government began a violent crackdown on protests.
Most recently, Ortega forced hundreds of opposition figures into exile, stripping them of their citizenship, seizing their properties and declaring them “traitors of the homeland.” Nicaragua has thrown out aid groups such as the Red Cross and a yearslong crackdown on the Catholic Church has forced the Vatican to close its embassy. The tightening chokehold on the country has prompted many Nicaraguans to flee their country and seek asylum in neighboring Costa Rica or the United States.
Honduras
President Xiomara Castro took office last year as the first female president of Honduras, winning on a message of tackling corruption, inequality and poverty. The wife of former President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a military coup, she won a landslide victory.
But her popularity has dipped as many of her promises for change have gone unfulfilled. At the same time, the government has sought to mimic neighboring El Salvador’s crackdown on gangs, responding fiercely to a grisly massacre in a women’s prison in June.
Costa Rica
Once known as the land of “pura vida” and mild politics compared to the surrounding region, Costa Rica has seen rising bloodshed that threatens to tarnish the country’s reputation as a secure haven. Homicides have soared as the nation has become a base for drug traffickers. President Rodrigo Chavez, who took office last year, has promised more police in the street and tougher laws to take on the uptick in crime.
At the same time, a migratory flight from Nicaragua has overwhelmed the country, which is known as one of the world’s great refuges for people fleeing persecution. The government has since tightened its asylum laws.
Panama
Panama is headed into presidential elections in May, with simmering frustration at economic woes, corruption and insecurity acting as a potential harbinger for change. Any shift could have global significance due to Panama’s status as a financial hub.
The nation has also become the epicenter of a steady flow of migration through the perilous jungles of the Darien Gap running along the Colombia-Panama border.
Belize
Belize is often seen as a place of relative calm in a region that is anything but. A former British colony named British Honduras, Belize’s government system is still tightly tethered to the country. But Prime Minister Johnny Briceño has sought to distance his nation from the monarchy. The nation is also one of the few in the Americas that maintains formal ties with Taiwan amid a broad effort by China to pull support away from the island country by funneling money into Central America.
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s troubled presidential election was thrown into even greater turmoil Wednesday when the country’s top electoral tribunal confirmed the results of the June 25 vote while the Attorney General’s Office announced that the second place party had been suspended.
The seemingly contradictory moves fed more than two weeks of rising tensions and suspicions after the first round of voting, which had seemingly sent conservative Sandra Torres and progressive Bernardo Arévalo into a Aug. 20 presidential runoff.
There were immediate calls Wednesday for Guatemalans to take to the streets in protest and demonstrators gathered outside the Supreme Electoral Tribunal until heavy rain drove them away.
With tensions surrounding Guatemala’s June 25 election heightening, President Alejandro Giammattei has taken the unusual step of publishing an open letter saying he has no intention of staying in power beyond his term.
An electoral official in Guatemala says a court-ordered review of the country’s June 25 presidential election that included a second look at dozens of precinct tally sheets appears to have upheld the original vote totals.
A week after Guatemala’s June 25 elections boosted a relative long-shot candidate into the final second round of voting, the country’s top court has frozen certification of the election results.
Guatemala’s highest court has suspended the releasing of official results, granting a temporary injunction to 10 parties that challenged the results of the June 25 election.
It was not immediately clear how the situation would play out now that yet another court had intervened in Guatemala’s electoral process, but electoral authorities said Torres and Arévalo would face each other on Aug. 20.
But Rafael Curruchiche, the special prosecutor against impunity, said in a video statement that in May 2022 a citizen reported having his signature falsely added to the signature gathering effort of Arévalo’s Seed Movement party and that the Attorney General Office’s investigation also found 12 deceased people were included on its list of signatures.
The special prosecutor said there were indications that more than 5,000 signatures were illegally gathered for the party.
Curruchiche’s statement was released while the country waited for a scheduled news conference by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in which it was expected to certify the result of the June 25 election. The tribunal confirmed the result minutes after the prosecutor announced that the Seed Movement’s legal status had been suspended.
Guatemala’s electoral law prohibits the suspension of political parties between when an election is called and when it is held. With a second round of voting required because no candidate exceeded 50% of the vote, it appeared that the Seed Movement could not be suspended.
After the first round, losing parties had challenged the results and courts intervened to block certification of the results. Concerns grew that efforts were afoot to keep Arévalo out of contention.
This week, it appeared the demands imposed by the courts had finally been satisfied and electoral authorities said they were working toward certification of the results. But talk began to circulate on social platforms that another hurdle could be coming from the Attorney General’s Office.
The relatively new Seed Movement party had needed at least 25,000 signatures to form itself legally. Curruchiche suggested that not knowing where the party got the funds to pay signature gatherers left open the possibility of money laundering.
The details of the case were made known to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal in May, Curruchiche said.
Roberto Arzu, a conservative presidential hopeful who was barred from competing for allegedly starting his campaign prematurely, called on Guatemalans to take to the streets in protest following Curruchiche’s announcement.
“This is a corrupt system’s coup,” said Arzu, son of former President Álvaro Arzú.
An award-winning journalist in Guatemala has been convicted on criminal charges, in what human rights observers call yet another blow to press freedom and democracy in the Central American country.
José Rubén Zamora, a 66-year-old journalist and newspaper founder, was convicted to 6 years in prison for money laundering.
In announcing its decision on Wednesday, a court in Guatemala City found Zamora had “harmed the Guatemalan economy”. The public prosecutor’s office sought a 40-year sentence in the case.
Zamora, however, was absolved on charges of blackmail and influence peddling due to the lack of evidence presented by prosecutors.
The journalist, known for exposing corruption in Guatemala, still faces two other criminal cases, one pertaining to signatures on customs documents that did not match. That case was filed just days ahead of the sentencing.
The trial that concluded on Wednesday lasted eight hearings, held over 20 days, and has generated widespread concern and condemnation.
“My father is innocent,” the journalist’s son Jose Zamora told Al Jazeera ahead of Wednesday’s conviction.
“The [Guatemalan] state has kidnapped him,” he explained. “They have subjected him, within this fabricated case, to a process that has been totally a violation of his due process.”
While the public prosecutor’s office has long maintained the case against Zamora was not about his journalism, critics say the accusations and rapid nature of the trial suggest otherwise.
The case stems from allegations made by Ronald Garcia Navarijo, a former banker accused of corruption, about a deposit of $38,000 that Zamora allegedly asked someone to make on his behalf, as part of a money-laundering scheme.
The Salvadoran newspaper El Faro reported that prosecutors prepared the case against Zamora within 72 hours of receiving the accusation.
Zamora was arrested in July 2022 and kept in pre-trial detention without being able to make his first appearance before the judge for nearly two weeks.
Other irregularities occurred throughout the trial, including Zamora being forced to change lawyers eight times, with at least four facing criminal charges related to the case.
Human rights observers have accused the administration of Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei of lashing out against anti-corruption advocates and the press [File: Moises Castillo/AP Photo]
Zamora and the newspaper he founded in 1996, El Periodico, have long worked to expose government misconduct. The paper has played a key part in uncovering alleged corruption in the current administration of President Alejandro Giammattei, publishing over 120 investigations into the government since January 2020.
But El Periodico was forced to close on May 15 amid the fallout from the Zamora case. Its journalists were investigated, and the newsroom had been targeted multiple times in recent years for tax audits.
In a statement, El Periodico’s leadership blamed “persecution” for shuttering the newsroom, as well as “the harassment of our advertisers”. Both Zamora’s case and El Periodico’s closure have raised concern in the international community.
“They’re using all these tools to basically put [Zamora] out of business,” Carlos Martinez de la Serna, program director with the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists, told Al Jazeera.
“[This is] sending a very chilling message to journalists — that basically reporting on corruption is a crime,” he said.
Journalist Jose Ruben Zamora is seen on his first day of trial on May 2 [File: Santiago Billy/AP Photo]
Attacks on press freedom
As the case against Zamora comes to a close, another case against journalists from El Periodico is set to begin.
In February, a judge authorized the investigation of nine journalists and columnists from El Periodico on charges of “conspiracy to obstruct justice”, following a request from the lead prosecutor in Zamora’s case. The charges stem from the publishing of stories critical of the legal proceedings against Zamora.
On June 5, the public prosecutor’s office officially requested all the stories published since July by the journalists and columnists in the case.
But the persecution against journalists extends beyond El Periodico’s newsroom, according to observers.
“The press is being harassed at the level of exposure of Jose Ruben Zamora, as well as other low-profile journalists and even community journalists,” Renzo Rosal, a political scientist at Guatemala’s Landivar University, told Al Jazeera.
“Journalists who carry out their work in the interior of the country are victims of the same logic: the logic of persecution, the logic of criminalization, so that no one investigates anything,” he explained.
Journalists protest the arrest of Jose Ruben Zamora, holding up a copy of the newspaper he founded, El Periodico [File: Moises Castillo/AP Photo]
Critics say the criminalisation of journalists has become further entrenched since President Giammattei took the oath of office in 2020. A number of renowned journalists have been forced into exile, while others have faced criminal charges and threats.
For example, Anastasia Mejía, a community journalist in Joyabaj, Quiche, was arrested in 2020 on charges of sedition and arson following her coverage of protests against the mayor of the largely Indigenous municipality in Guatemala’s western highlands. The charges were dropped a year after she was first accused.
In another case from 2022, Carlos Choc, a community journalist from the eastern municipality of El Estor, faced the criminal charge of “instigation to commit a crime” following his coverage of anti-mining protests.
Eventually Choc was exonerated, but the threats against journalists in El Estor remain, as police continue to intimidate other journalists working in the area.
Journalists protest outside the Supreme Court in Guatemala City on March 4 after an investigation was announced into nine El Periodico reporters [File: Wilder Lopez/AP Photo]
Rolling back democracy
The verdict in the Zamora case comes within days of Guatemala’s general elections on June 25, which has likewise been plagued by controversy.
The country’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal has ruled to exclude three presidential candidates from the race on charges of noncompliance with the country’s election laws. Those disqualifications — which targeted at least one frontrunner — have raised questions about the fairness of the elections and Guatemala’s democratic institutions.
“Today the elections are another indicator of serious democratic erosion,” Rosal says.
Human rights observers have warned that Guatemala has recently seen a sharp rollback of its democracy and its anti-corruption efforts, even beyond the upcoming elections.
Nearly four years ago, the administration of former President Jimmy Morales oversaw the closure of the International Commission Against Impunity (CICIG), a United Nations-backed initiative to address crime and corruption that enjoyed public support of 70 percent.
Giammattei’s administration has continued the trend of dismantling anti-corruption bulwarks, through prosecution of the judges, lawyers and activists involved in those efforts.
Lawyer Eva Siomara Sosa, a former employee for the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (FECI), wears handcuffs after her first court hearing in Guatemala City in 2022 [File: Luis Echeverria/Reuters]
Accusations of corruption have also permeated the Guatemalan public prosecutor’s office in recent years. Both Attorney General Maria Consuelo Porras, who was controversially re-elected in May 2022, and Rafael Curruchiche, head of the Office of the Special Prosecutor Against Impunity, have been sanctioned by the United States for corruption and anti-democratic actions.
Critics say Guatemala is currently undergoing its greatest challenge since the country’s return to democracy in 1985, after decades of military rule. Back then, those democratic reforms paved the way for the 1996 peace accords that brought an end the country’s 36-year-long internal conflict.
But for those who lived through those tumultuous times, Guatemala’s current democratic crisis is a painful setback.
“I struggled for the peace process so that there would be peace in Guatemala,” said Claudia Samayoa, a founder of the Human Rights Defenders Protection Unit in Guatemala (UDEFEGUA). Her organisation grew out of the peace accords and sought to implement its terms in the post-conflict period.
But Samoyoa explained that UDEFEGUA has likewise come under attack, with its leadership facing accusations of influence peddling in relation to Zamora’s case. The organisation has denied those allegations, dismissing them as a smear campaign against its human rights work.
“We have regressed in the exercise of the most basic right of defence,” Samayoa said. “These cases are backwards.”
Guatemalan authorities evacuated more than 1,000 people and closed a road as Central America’s most active volcano erupted Thursday, spewing thick clouds of ash over farms and towns not far from the capital city. Civil protection official Oscar Cossio said 1,054 people had been evacuated from five communities near the foot of the volcano and moved to a sports hall for shelter.
He said that number was likely to rise as a full accounting of the evacuees was carried out.
Guatemala’s Conred disaster center said the volcano named Fuego, Spanish for “fire,” was sending out “pyroclastic flows” — a high-temperature mix of gas, ash and rock fragments “which descend with great speed down the flanks of the volcanic complex.”
The ash column ejected by Fuego reached some 19,000 feet above sea level. Last month, concerns about an ash cloud from a volcanic eruption in Russia forced Alaska Airlines to cancel some flights to and from Alaska.
Smoke rises from the Fuego volcano during an increase of activity in Guatemala, May 4, 2023.
Courtesy of Instagram user @fstrunk via Reuters
Conred said ash was falling to the west and southwest of the volcano, in a direction away from the capital Guatemala City, which is 22 miles to the northeast.
Stronger emissions could follow as the “high level” eruption continues, and it warned that with rainfall forecast, mudslides could form.
Conred official Rodolfo Garcia estimated that 130,000 people live within areas exposed to falling ash, which came down as far as 62 miles from the crater.
He said 13 emergency shelters had opened in four nearby towns, capable of providing refuge to 7,600 people.
The Fuego volcano is seen erupting in Guatemala, May 4, 2023.
Courtesy of Instagram user @fstrunk via Reuters
The authorities opted to close the RN-14 route on the slopes of the volcano that connects several towns to the colonial city of Antigua, the country’s main tourist attraction and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
It advised those living in areas at risk of the ash cloud to carefully follow any instruction from the authorities and urged locals and tourists to avoid a restricted area of 7 kilometers around the volcano.
Residents should cover water tanks to avoid contamination, wear masks so as to not breathe in the ash, clear fallen debris from the roofs of their homes to prevent damage caused by heavy deposits, and have evacuation survival kits ready for themselves and their pets.
Transit police released photos showing autos and motorcycles stopped along highways to avoid getting bogged down in fallen ash.
Last December, an eruption of lava and ash by the same volcano forced Guatemalan authorities to temporarily close the country’s largest airport.
The 12,345-feet-tall volcano erupts every four to five years on average.
In 2018, an eruption sent rivers of lava pouring down its sides, devastating the village of San Miguel Los Lotes, killing 215 people and leaving a similar number missing.
Guatemala has two other active volcanoes — Santiaguito in the west of the country and Pacaya in the south.
Washington — The Biden administration on Thursday announced it will set up migrant processing centers in Latin America, increase deportations and expand legal migration pathways in a bid to reduce the number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border unlawfully.
The moves are part of the administration’s effort to reduce and slow migration to the U.S.-Mexico border, where officials are preparing to discontinue a pandemic-era policy known as Title 42 that has allowed them to swiftly expel migrants over 2.7 million times since March 2020 without processing their asylum claims.
Title 42 is set to end on May 11 with the expiration of the national COVID-19 public health emergency. Officials have made internal projections that migrant arrivals to the southern border could spike to between 10,000 and 13,000 per day next month.
In fact, unlawful border crossings have already increased in the lead-up to the policy change, especially in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, a senior U.S. official told CBS News. On Tuesday alone, Border Patrol recorded 7,500 apprehensions of migrants, a more than 40% increase from March’s daily average, the official said.
The brick-and-mortar processing centers announced Thursday will serve as regional hubs to screen migrants and determine whether they qualify for different options to enter the U.S. legally, including through traditional refugee resettlement, family visa programs, a sponsorship initiative for certain countries and temporary work visas.
The centers would be located in key choke-points in Latin America that many migrants transit through en route to the U.S. southern border, starting with Colombia and Guatemala. Senior administration officials said the U.S. is “in discussions” with other countries to expand the number of processing centers.
FILE — Men carry children on their shoulders as they set off on foot with other migrants toward the north in Tapachula, Mexico, on June 6, 2022.
Daniel Diaz/picture alliance via Getty Images
Migrants processed at the regional hubs will also be vetted for eligibility to remain in the hosting country or to be resettled in Canada or Spain, which have agreed to take referrals from the centers, according to the senior U.S. officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the plan during a briefing with reporters. CBS News first reported the establishment of the migrant centers on Wednesday.
During a joint press conference with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the regional processing hubs are expected to serve between 5,000 and 6,000 migrants each month.
“We are working with our regional partners. We are going after the smugglers. We are surging resources to the border. But we cannot do everything that we need to do until Congress provides the needed resources and reforms,” Mayorkas said.
The administration also announced on Thursday that it would expand a family reunification program that currently allows Haitians and Cubans to come to the U.S. once they have approved immigrant visa requests from family members who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.
That program will be expanded to Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, allowing citizens of those countries to come to the U.S. under the humanitarian parole authority before their immigrant visas become available if their U.S.-based relatives’ requests to sponsor them for a visa have been approved.
To deter unlawful crossings after Title 42’s end, the Biden administration has been working to finalize a rule that would disqualify migrants from asylum if they enter the country illegally after failing to seek humanitarian protection in a third country they transited through on their way to the U.S.
Administration officials have argued the policy, which resembles a Trump administration rule, will discourage illegal crossings, and encourage migrants to apply for two initiatives it unveiled in January: a sponsorship program that allows up to 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to fly to the U.S. each month, and a phone app that asylum-seekers in Mexico can use to request entry at ports of entry along the southern border.
In a statement Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security said the number of weekly deportation flights to some countries would double or triple. A senior administration official said the U.S. is planning a “significant” expansion of fast-track deportations under a process known as expedited removal to impose “stiffer consequences” on those who enter the U.S. without authorization.
Once Title 42 lifts, the U.S. intends to continue deporting Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuleans to Mexico if they cross the southern border unlawfully, the official said. The deportations would be carried out under immigration law, instead of Title 42, and lead to deportees being banned from the U.S. for five years. If they attempt to cross the border after being deported, the official added, they could face criminal prosecution.
The Biden administration earlier this month also launched an initiative to speed up the initial asylum screenings that migrants undergo when they are processed under regular immigration laws, instead of Title 42. Migrants enrolled in the program are being interviewed by U.S. asylum officers by phone while in Border Patrol custody, a shift from the long-standing practice of waiting until they are placed in long-term facilities.
Earlier this week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it would be reassigning nearly 480 employees to help the 1,000-member asylum officer corps conduct these “credible fear” interviews, which determine whether migrants are deported or allowed to seek asylum, according to an internal notice obtained by CBS News.
The measures announced on Thursday also addressed concerns about the sharp increase in maritime migration in the Caribbean sea and Florida straits over the past year. The administration said it would be disqualifying Cuban and Haitian migrants from the sponsorship program launched earlier this year if they are interdicted at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard.
During the briefing with reporters, a senior U.S. official noted the administration is “fully cognizant that many of these measures are vulnerable to litigation,” saying the only “lasting solution” can come from Congress. Republican-led states are currently asking a federal judge to block the sponsorship program, arguing that the administration does not have the authority to admit 30,000 migrants each month outside the visa system.
The processing centers are part of a broader Biden administration campaign to enlist the help of countries in the Western Hemisphere to manage unauthorized migration — a commitment that 20 nations made in the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection during the Summit of the Americas in June 2022.
Earlier this month, the governments of the U.S., Colombia and Panama announced a two-month operation to curb migrant smuggling in the Darién Gap, a roadless and mountainous jungle that tens of thousands of migrants have traversed over the past year en route to the U.S.-Mexico border.
As part of planning related to Title 42’s end, U.S. officials have considered reinstating the practice of detaining some migrant families with children in detention centers, a controversial policy that the Biden administration discontinued in 2021.
Asked whether the practice would be revived, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas told CBS News during an interview last week that “no decision” had been made.
During Thursday’s press conference, Mayorkas said the administration had “no plan to detain families.”
