WASHINGTON • The United States will start removing "millions" of illegal migrants next week, President Donald Trump said, adding that Guatemala is preparing to sign a safe third country deal.
"Next week, ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the US. They will be removed as fast as they come in," Mr Trump wrote on Twitter on Monday, referring to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
He said "Guatemala is getting ready to sign a Safe-Third Agreement", an apparent reference to a pact in which migrants entering Guatemalan territory would have to apply for refugee status there, not in the US.
Details have not been made public and Guatemala has not publicly confirmed talks that the US State Department said were taking place in Guatemala last Friday.
The US is facing a surge in migrant arrivals from Guatemala and other impoverished Central American countries plagued by gang violence. The numbers have overwhelmed the ability of the US authorities to temporarily shelter and process them.
Calling it "an invasion", Mr Trump has made the fight against illegal migration a central plank of his administration.
But US rights group Human Rights First said that it was "simply ludicrous" for the US to assert that Guatemala was capable of protecting refugees, when its own citizens are fleeing violence.
Earlier on Monday, the US said it would not offer any more aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras unless they take "concrete actions" to deter undocumented migrants from heading for the US.
For fiscal year 2019, US$370 million (S$508 million) in aid initially planned will be allocated to other foreign policy priorities, the State Department said, and all future aid is now conditional.
"We will not provide new funds for programmes in those countries until we are satisfied the Northern Triangle governments are taking concrete actions to reduce the number of illegal migrants coming to the US border," said a spokesman for the US State Department, referring to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
Under a deal between the US and Mexico this month to avert threatened tariffs, Mexico agreed to deploy 6,000 National Guard members to reinforce its southern border and to expand its policy of taking back migrants as the US processes their asylum claims.
Mexico has agreed that if its measures to stem the flow of migrants are unsuccessful, it will discuss signing a safe third country agreement with the US.
