Guatemala will accept 40% more deportation flights from the United States, including both Guatemalan deportees and those of other nationalities, President Bernardo Arevalo said after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday.

Rubio, speaking at a press conference alongside Arevalo following their meeting in Guatemala City, said the U.S. would also support the Central American country's efforts to return people not from Guatemala to their homeland.

Washington's top diplomat, who has been touring Central America in his first trip abroad as the U.S. top diplomat to secure cooperation for the Trump administration's efforts to deport many more migrants, said Arevalo's offer to increase the number of flights Guatemala accepts was "very important for us in terms of the migratory situation that we're facing."

"His willingness to accept not just nationals but those from other nationalities as they seek to ultimately return to their own homelands is also important, and we've pledged our support with those efforts," Rubio said.

Under the previous U.S. administration of President Joe Biden, Guatemala was receiving roughly 14 deportation flights per week, Reuters reported in December, citing a Guatemalan official.

The roughly 66,000 Guatemalans deported in fiscal year 2024 was the most of Biden's presidency and more than any single year during Trump's 2017-2021 presidency, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement statistics.

The details of the increase in flights will be discussed in working groups to be established, Arevalo said.

Arevalo said accepting criminals was not discussed in Wednesday's meeting, after El Salvador on Monday offered to house in its jails "dangerous criminals" from anywhere in the world deported by the United States.

 

 

 

As well as smoothing the way for the U.S. to send migrants back to their own countries, Rubio in his visits this week has sought to secure “third country” agreements, in which nations accept citizens of other countries that will not accept deportees.

Cuba and Venezuela, for instance, have frosty relations with the U.S. and have in the past limited the number of deportees they will accept, although the Trump administration says Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has agreed to accept back his country's citizens.

Since taking office on January 20, President Donald Trump has stepped up the number of migrants the U.S. deports to Latin America, including using military planes for repatriation flights.

The Trump administration on Monday removed protection against deportation from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the U.S.

The U.S. military aircraft on Tuesday began flying detained migrants to Guantanamo Bay, after Trump called for a migrant detention facility at the base to be expanded to hold more than 30,000 migrants.