Choluteca, Honduras.
The authorities of Honduras reported on Wednesday the arrest of 18 Cuban immigrants, including two minors, who were allegedly trying to travel from the Central American country to United States illegally.
The arrest was recorded on Tuesday near the site of the Guasaule, department of Choluteca, Border between Honduras and Nicaragua, after a routine police check, the Honduran National Police said in a press release.
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He added that all were required because they entered Honduran territory “irregularly”, so they remain detained in an office of the National Institute of Migration in Choluteca, where the authorities will decide whether to grant them permission to cross the national territory or return them to their country of origin.
The Caribbean, nine women, seven men and two minors, were detained by Border, Prevention and Special Forces agents as they walked in the May 7 colony in the municipality of Triomf, near Guasaule, he said. .
Honduran police have in recent days increased “control and surveillance operations” on the border with Nicaragua to prevent the irregular entry of foreigners into the country and prevent the spread of the covid-19 pandemic.
In recent decades the Central American country has become a transit point for migrants, especially Cubans and Africans, who cross Central American countries to reach the United States, authorities have tightened security in recent years. on the border with Mexico.
Honduras signed an agreement with the United States in September 2019 that seeks to end irregular migration from Central American countries.
Under the cooperation agreement released last May by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the governments of Honduras and the United States agreed to send asylum seekers to the Central American country to the northern authorities. -American.
The document joins two similar asylum cooperation agreements reached with Guatemala on July 26, 2019, and El Salvador on September 20 last year, respectively.
UNHCR WILL HELP STRENGTHEN ASYLUM SYSTEM
The National Migration Institute (INM) of Honduras and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed an association agreement the day before for the project “Strengthening the system of asylum “in the country.
The agreement was signed by the director of the INM, Carolina Menjívar, and the UNHCR representative in Honduras, Andrés Celis.
The agreement will allow the INM to encourage the participation of local governments, state and private entities that strengthen the asylum system.
“This agreement strengthens us to give a better response to asylum seekers. We can do things better, work and make a difference,” Menjívar stressed.
The official thanked UNHCR for its support and commitment, and assured that Honduras has “a big task”, but alongside the UN Refugee Agency “we will achieve it”.
The UNHCR representative stressed the importance of the agreement, because “the world is still moving with the pandemic, it is a complicated fact between opening the door or keeping the house safe and here we have found the will, the commitment of the Honduran authorities and the INM “. EFE