Harmful returns: The compounded vulnerabilities of returned Guatemalans in the time of COVID-19

SUMMARY

In recent years, the United States and Mexico have taken a series of steps that make it easier to return Guatemalans back to their home country. These steps include policies and programs related to detention, deportation, and limits in asylum, such as the Remain in Mexico program (officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols or MPP by its acronym). These measures force home many Guatemalans with valid refugee claims who are at risk of persecution upon return. Others have legitimate fears for their security and safety when they get home because returnees are at greater risk of becoming targets of violence and extortion. Once back, Guatemalans often struggle to reintegrate. They face unique challenges in earning a livelihood; and women, indigenous groups, and children face particular barriers to accessing many basic public services. Also, health care is lacking, particularly for psychological or specialized services.

Deportations and returns carried out in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic compound these challenges and contribute to the spread of the virus. Indeed, at the end of April 2020, deportees from the United States made up nearly 20 percent of the 500 coronavirus cases in Guatemala and, as of early June, deportees continue to test positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in Guatemala despite having clean bill of health documents from the United States.

In the United States, the administration has responded to the pandemic by insisting on continued detention of asylum seekers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rather than using alternatives that would allow for social distancing. On May 24, 2020, a 34-year-old Guatemalan man was the second detainee to die from COVID-19 in ICE custody. The United States is also making it more difficult for unaccompanied children in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to unite with relatives already in the country. In addition, the administration has expanded its efforts to deport children to Guatemala—both children in the custody of the ORR or those who have just crossed the border and been picked up by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Since late March, under the claimed authority of Title 42 of the Public Health Safety Act, CBP has expelled Guatemalan asylum seekers to Mexico without any fear screening. Singling out asylum seekers in this way is neither justified nor necessary for public health; an alternative safe screening process could be adopted at the border. Before invoking Title 42 authority, CBP placed thousands of asylum-seeking Guatemalans in the MPP program, and they continue to live in dangerous and poor conditions in northern Mexico. Health care workers in Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, and Matamoros warn that conditions for asylum seekers waiting there will make an outbreak of COVID-19 a “public health disaster.” This disaster could be averted through parole of those in MPP to homes of family and friends in the United States, a circumstance that would be available to the vast majority of them, and allowing for social distancing, quarantine, and isolation.

Mexico has worked to reduce the number of people in detention during the pandemic; as of May 27, 2020, 234 migrants remained in detention across Mexico’s 65 migration detention centers. Although the number of detained migrants has been greatly reduced since March, Mexico has returned nearly 5,000 Central Americans to their home countries since the pandemic began. Four adolescents deported from Mexico had tested positive for COVID-19 as of May 20, but the number of deportees could be higher because it is difficult to track these cases, given that many Guatemalans return through informal channels, frequently after being bused from the north and abandoned near the Guatemalan border.

In Guatemala, the government has focused its efforts on providing some basic reception services for deportees and other returnees. However, it has struggled to provide meaningful reintegration programs. The pandemic has exacerbated the impact of this failure. If a returnee has been exposed to COVID-19 or is COVID-19 positive upon arrival, there are few if any health care services to treat them, nor is there adequate shelter to allow for either quarantine or isolation.

Guatemalans deported during the pandemic arrive home to face rising levels of food insecurity and a stagnant economy further hobbled by border closures and movement restrictions. Adults and children alike face stigma and a growing risk of violent attack as fear and misinformation about the disease continue to spread. A senior UN aid official in Guatemala recently observed that “many communities are rejecting returnees because they fear being infected.” Indeed, even those returnees who test negative for COVID-19 have been violently attacked.

Refugees International has called for testing before deportation, and the Guatemalan government has required evidence of such testing from the United States. However, U.S. authorities are not conducting comprehensive and effective testing, and deportees continue to test positive upon arrival in Guatemala.This situation puts additional strain on the Guatemalan government and civil society, which already lack an adequate response.