US Deports Mexicans Far from Border, May Send Others to Guatemala

The United States began flying Mexican deportees to the interior of Mexico on Thursday and a senior U.S. official said Mexicans seeking U.S. asylum could be sent to Guatemala, as the Trump administration seeks to further limit border crossings.

The flight carrying Mexican deportees from Tucson, Arizona, landed in Guadalajara around midday. One immigration shelter in the city said it had been informed of a likely influx of deportees.

U.S. President Donald Trump has made clamping down on unlawful migration a top priority of his three-year-old term in office and his looming 2020 reelection campaign.

John Sandweg, a former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Obama administration, said the program would help stop Mexican migrants from simply crossing again once they had been deported.

More