U.S. plan to make Guatemala take asylum seekers called ludicrous by rights group

FILE PHOTO: Eduardo (R) and 13-year-old daughter Aura (C), asylum seekers from Guatemala, wait on the Mexican side of the Brownsville-Matamoros International Bridge after being denied entry by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers near Brownsville, Texas, U.S., July 25, 2018. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File Photo

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - A U.S. plan to make asylum seekers from Honduras and El Salvador seek refuge in Guatemala instead of the United States would endanger, not protect, refugees, a prominent rights group said on Friday as U.S. negotiators met Guatemalan officials.

U.S. rights group Human Rights First said it was "simply ludicrous" for the United States to assert that Guatemala was capable of protecting refugees, when its own citizens are fleeing violence.