US pursues policy to send Mexican asylum-seekers to Guatemala
A US Department of Homeland Security official confirmed Monday that it would pursue a policy to send some Mexican asylum seekers applicants to Guatemala. The policy originated from the July Cooperative Asylum Agreement between the US and Guatemala. In the agreement, the countries established that Guatemala would harbor some asylum seeker applicants that entered into the [...]
Mexico authorities: more than 60,000 have disappeared amid drug war
Mexican authorities announced Monday that an estimated 61,637 Mexicans have disappeared amid the country’s drug war. A previous analysis in April of 2018 put the figure at just 40,000. The figure was calculated based on analysis of data from state prosecutors. While the cases which were analyzed date back as early as the 1960s, more [...]
Guatemala former first lady, presidential candidate arrested on campaign finance charges
Former first lady of Guatemala and presidential candidate Sandra Torres was arrested on Monday in her home near Guatemala City for breaking campaign finance rules and for unlawful association. Torres and her political party, National Unity of Hope (UNE), have called the arrest politically motivated. Torres has thrice run unsuccessfully for the presidency of Guatemala. [...]
The US Department of Justice on Monday asked the Supreme Court to stay an injunction blocking a July 15 Trump administration asylum rule requiring most asylum-seekers to ask for protection in another country before reaching the US-Mexico border. Under the new rule, people from countries like Honduras and El Salvador, where one would have to [...]
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California blocked the Trump administration’s new asylum rule Wednesday. The new rule, announced July 15, requires most asylum-seekers to ask for protection in another country before reaching the US-Mexico border. Under the new rule, Hondurans and Salvadorans would have to be denied asylum [...]
Guatemala high court blocks agreement to have migrants apply for asylum there rather than in US
The Guatemala Constitutional Court granted an injunction Sunday to stop the country’s President, Jimmy Morales, from entering into a proposal with the US that would require migrants from El Salvador and Honduras to apply for asylum in Guatemala instead of in the US. Morales canceled a trip to Washington, DC, earlier Sunday to let the [...]
Free Russia Foundation report exposes Russia interference in legal systems
In a report published Wednesday, the Free Russia Foundation detailed the actions taken by the Kremlin to infiltrate Western institutions and legal systems. The authors warn that individual nations need to take steps to protect their institutions, governments and court systems from the Kremlin. The report is divided into two parts. Part one focuses on [...]
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced Wednesday that Guatemala and Belize have asked the court to resolve territorial disputes according to their special agreement. The territorial disputes arose because Guatemala never accepted the borders of Belize and continues to claim about 11,000 square km (4,250 square miles) of Belize—about half of its territory. Under [...]
US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) announced Wednesday that it had apprehended 1,036 individuals immediately after they illegally crossed the Rio Grande river into El Paso, Texas. CBP described the group as the largest ever to be encountered by border patrol agents. The members of the group—all from Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador—included 934 family [...]
A Guatemala judge on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for the country’s former attorney general and current presidential candidate, Thelma Aldana, on charges of embezzlement, lying and tax fraud. The warrant for Aldana’s arrest, issued by Judge Victor Cruz, “relates to a corruption inquiry involving illegal hiring,” said a Supreme Court official. Aldana has denied [...]
