U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem signed a border security cooperation agreement with Guatemala on Thursday, which includes the use of drones and other technologies to combat transnational crime. “This joint security alliance will allow us to share information […] and security protocols at our airports, ports, and borders, as well as between our intelligence agencies,” Noem said after the agreement was signed in Guatemala City, the final stop on her Central American tour.
Noem said she discussed cybersecurity and the use of advanced technologies, such as drone surveillance, with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo and other officials, with the goal of dismantling drug trafficking networks. “This is a joint security agreement that gives us an unprecedented opportunity to share information and pursue criminals,” the secretary stated.
Guatemala’s Minister of the Interior, Francisco Jiménez, who co-signed the agreement, said the deal will enable “more effective detection of individuals linked to criminal and terrorist networks.” The agreement includes “joint investigations” and “information sharing,” as Guatemala serves as a transit country for people from “all over the world” en route to the United States, the minister told reporters.
Noem also highlighted an assistance program for migrants returning to Guatemala from the U.S., including the approximately 20,000 deported this year. Back in Guatemala, migrants “can count on a government that supports them with housing, family care, and job training so they can secure their future, and that of their children and grandchildren,” Noem said.
“This country can serve as an example to others and can lead the way in the efforts we want to make,” added Noem, who visited the migrant reception center at La Aurora airport in the capital. She also praised President Arévalo’s willingness to receive “unaccompanied migrant children currently in the United States” after traveling there alone.
“We have already identified hundreds of them in the U.S. who were victims of trafficking, and the president has said he wants to facilitate their return to their families and help them with education and job training as quickly as possible,” she said. Prior to Guatemala, Noem visited Panama, Costa Rica, and Honduras, where she also discussed security and migration and signed similar agreements
