Guatemala And Honduras Deny Signing Safe Third-Country Agreements Despite Kristi Noem Saying So

Honduras and Guatemala rejected having signed any immigration-related agreements with the U.S. despite Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kristi Noem claiming so during a trip to the Central American nations.

According to The Associated Press, Noem described the agreements as ways to offer asylum-seekers alternatives to the U.S. and that the Trump administration put pressure on the two countries to get them to sign.

"Honduras and now Guatemala after today will be countries that will take those individuals and give them refugee status as well," Noem said. "We've never believed that the United States should be the only option, that the guarantee for a refugee is that they go somewhere to be safe and to be protected from whatever threat they face in their country. It doesn't necessarily have to be the United States," she added.

Guatemala, however, said the government didn't sign any immigration-related agreements during Noem's visit, with its presidential communications office saying the country will receive Central American deportees and provide them with a temporary stop on the way back to their respective countries. Honduras' immigration director Wilson Paz, on his end, denied any agreements were signed.

The outlet did note that both countries did sign safe third-country agreements with the U.S. during the first Trump administration, which allowed it to declare some asylum seekers ineligible to apply in the U.S. and allowing authorities to send them there.

The Trump administration has sent migrants from third countries elsewhere, with Kosovo being the latest nation to confirm such an agreement. Earlier this month the country said it agreed to receive 50 deportees.

The Kosovo embassy in the U.S. added that the deportees will be "temporarily relocated" there as officials work on "their safe return to their home country." They will select deportees "from a proposed pool, provided they meet specific criteria related to the rule of law and public order." El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama are others that have received deportees.

The central African nation of Rwanda was also discussing potentially accepting third country deportees. In early May, Rwanda's foreign minister, Olivier J.P. Nduhungirehe, said on state broadcaster Rwanda TV. that the country's government was in "early stage" talks about receiving third-country deportees from the U.S.

Also in May a federal judge warned the Trump administration against deporting third-country migrants to Libya following reports about imminent flights to the war-torn country. The flights did not end up taking place.