U.S. deportations of Guatemalans via air dwindle for second year of pandemic

Guatemalan deportees queue outside a government migration facility after arriving on a deportation flight from the U.S., at the Guatemalan Air Force (FAG) headquarters in La Aurora International airport, in Guatemala City, Guatemala December 28, 2021. REUTERS/Sandra Sebastian

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - The United States, with the completion of the three final deportation flights of Guatemalans in 2021, marked a second year of steady decline in the amount of migrants sent back to the Central American country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guatemala this year received 17,806 of its citizens deported from the United States via 184 flights. Nearly 4,000 of the deportees were minors, according to data from the Guatemalan Institute of Migration(IGM).