Search Results for: guatemala

The Trump administration has built a network of third-country transfer agreements with more than 30 governments and used them to remove over 17,400 people, in some cases in defiance of federal court orders and after individuals had won their release through habeas corpus, according to data released Tuesday by Human Rights First and Refugees International. [...]

President Bernardo Arévalo ended the nationwide state of siege in Guatemala on Monday, while maintaining joint military and police operations to combat organized crime and gangs. The move comes days before expiration of a 30-day emergency period imposed in response to deadly prison riots and attacks that left 11 National Civil Police officers dead. In [...]

UN experts released a statement on Monday expressing concern over historic illegal intercountry child adoptions in Guatemala and allegations that Attorney General María Consuelo Porras had handled the transfer of at least 80 Indigenous children who were eventually sent abroad. Experts decried the current lack of transparency and investigatory process, stating: We are particularly troubled that [...]

A UN expert on Tuesday urged the Guatemalan government to “take decisive steps to eliminate the instrumentalisation of its justice system once and for all,” ahead of the upcoming judicial appointment process for the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, Constitutional Court and Prosecutor General. Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Margaret Satterthwaite, stressed the [...]

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo declared a 30-day nationwide “state of siege” on Monday following a spree of gang violence that left nine police officers dead in the nation’s capital. The declaration was made unilaterally and currently awaits congressional approval. However, it will remain in place until a decision is reached. The recent killings are believed [...]

Advocacy groups in Illinois filed a class action lawsuit against US federal authorities on Friday over “inhumane” conditions at a Chicago-area Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, claiming violations of detainees’ constitutional rights as well as federal regulations. The plaintiffs’ lawyers—from the MacArthur Justice Center, the ACLU of Illinois, and the Chicago office of law [...]

A group of UN human rights experts on Nicaragua revealed in a new report on Tuesday that the Nicaraguan government, led by President Daniel Ortega, has intensified repression of exiled critics abroad. The repression includes legal persecution, denial of passport renewals and other documents, transnational surveillance, and intimidation of family members. Reed Brody, one of [...]

UN Secretary General António Guterres issued a statement Sunday condemning an attack by armed gangs in Haiti that killed at least 40 people. Women, children, and the elderly were among the victims of the attack in the Cabaret commune of Haiti’s West Department. Violence has surged in Haiti since President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination in July [...]

A US federal judge on Sunday ordered a temporary stop to President Donald Trump’s administration plans to send more than 600 unaccompanied children back to Guatemala. The emergency order, issued by US District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in Washington, DC, came at 4 AM because of exigent circumstances. Attorneys said that 10 children were already on [...]

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Security Council on Thursday that state authority is collapsing in Haiti as gang violence spreads across the country, disrupting daily life and forcing families to flee their homes. Guterres said that the ongoing armed conflict has created a humanitarian and displacement crisis, leaving six million people in need of [...]