Guatemala's government expects the number of Guatemalans seeking to migrate to rise after the U.S. government ends its Title 42 expulsion policy, officials said on Friday.
The comments from Guatemala's migration institute and foreign ministry came shortly after the U.S. government said it would end the pandemic-related order that effectively closed down the U.S. asylum system at the border with Mexico.
As well as an increase in Guatemalan migration, people of other nationalities could also generate "an increase in irregular migratory flows... in the region" and "the formation of massive groups," Guatemalan officials said in a statement.
In recent years, hundreds of thousands of Central Americans have crossed the U.S. border, many with the intention to seek asylum.
(Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Writing by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon and Rosalba O'Brien)
