A number of leftist activists in Guatemala are fighting President Trump’s recent Third Safe Country Agreement with the Guatemalan government, many of whom have ties to billionaire George Soros and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Trump and Guatemalan officials signed an agreement late July to allow United States border officials to block requests for asylum by migrants who pass through Guatemala without asking for asylum in the Central American country, as Breitbart News noted.
The deal would dramatically reduce the chance that migrants from Honduras, El Salvador, Africa, and Asia would be released into the U.S. pending an asylum hearing. The federal government has a similar agreement with Canada, which is designed to stop migrants from passing through many safe counties to reach the U.S.
The deal, though, has come with significant pushback from institutional leftists in Guatemala, including those who have ties to Pelosi and Soros, as well as international NGOs with connections to the United Nations.
Manfredo Roberto Marroquín — connected to the leftist organizations Acción Ciudadana, Myrna Mack Foundation, and the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (GAM) — has railed against the U.S.-Guatemala agreement with statements and in support of legal action challenging the deal. In one post online, Marroquín called the deal a “shameful agreement.”
The Acción Ciudadana group, which Marroquín is associated with, is partially funded by the U.S. federal government through USAID — which dishes out billions of dollars every decade to NGOs, foreign countries, and aid for foreign nationals.
In the last decade, USAID granted Acción Ciudadana more than $1.5 million in U.S. tax dollars, records obtained by Breitbart News reveal.
Also fighting Trump’s U.S.-Guatemala deal are Andrea Villagrán Antón and Mario Taracena Díaz Sol, both of whom have ties to Pelosi, sources told Breitbart News. Both Antón and Taracena are members of leftist-socialist political parties and have denounced the Third Safe Country Agreement.
Antón has posted to her Instagram account photos with Pelosi:
Other opponents of the U.S.-Guatemala migration deal have deep ties to Soros, the left-wing billionaire who funds open borders and mass migration movements across the world.
Activist Helen Mack, with ties to a multitude of leftist NGOs and who runs the Myrna Mack Foundation, partially funded by Soros, has opposed Trump’s migration deal, telling the Los Angeles Times:
“In no way does this benefit Guatemalans,” said Helen Mack, a human rights advocate. “How can Guatemala provide for asylum-seekers from Honduras and El Salvador when it can’t provide for its own people?” she said. [Emphasis added]
Augusto Jordán Rodas Andrade, who is affiliated with various left-wing organizations and the Soros-connected Myrna Mack Foundation, has been involved with legal action against Guatemalan officials for signing the Safe Third Country Agreement with Trump.
Andrade on social media has slammed the deal, calling it “a lose-lose” for Guatemalans:
Likewise, Édgar Armando Gutiérrez Girón, who was formerly affiliated with the Soros-connected Myrna Mack Foundation, has been involved with legal action against Trump’s Third Safe Country Agreement.
Elected Democrats oppose the U.S. deal with Guatemala.
Instead, they advocate for an asylum policy that allows foreign nationals from all over the world to remain in the country so long as they claim to be fleeing violence, crime, gangs, and other circumstances that currently are not eligible claims for asylum.
“Our country cannot continue to impose the cost of what’s happening on other countries, mainly Mexico and now apparently, we’re trying to do it to Guatemala,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) told CBS News.
“Let’s have a legitimate process for resolving asylum claims, not turn everybody down right away, not make them wait for years until they can get a claim, not try to lie and say, ‘well you can go to Guatemala, that’s a safe nation,’ when it’s got one of the highest homicide rates in the world,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said, though the murder rate of American cities like Baltimore, Maryland outpace the murder rate of Guatemala.
Pelosi, along with a delegation of House Democrats, is expected to arrive in Guatemala on August 8, days before the country’s second round of elections.
Guatemalan nationalists and conservatives have protested the Democrats’ visit to Guatemala, demanding they cancel their visit and accusing them of attempting to meddle in their elections.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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