People walk toward the Returnees Reception Center upon arrival on the third flight of citizens deported from the United States at the Guatemalan Air Force base in Guatemala City, Guatemala on January 6. File Photo by Mariano Macz/EPA
Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo said Guatemala has received 2,284 Mexican nationals deported from the United States this year.
Arévalo confirmed the figure after international media outlets, including CBS News, reported details about the repatriation operations carried out under the U.S. administration.
"What we have done is admit them in transit so that, in coordination with Mexican immigration authorities, they can return and enter Mexican territory less than 24 hours after arriving in the country," Arévalo said at a news conference Wednesday night.
Arévalo also rejected the suggestion that the procedure could constitute a safe third-country arrangement because the Mexican nationals remain in Guatemala only temporarily before continuing to their home country, local newspaper Prensa Libre reported.
