Original Date Announced

DHS published an agreement with Honduras under which certain non-Honduran migrants who seek asylum or other humanitarian protection in the U.S. may be removed to Honduras to seek protection there. Under the agreement, the United States will determine protection requests for individuals determined by the U.S. to be unaccompanied minors or individuals who arrived in the U.S. with a valid visa or admission document or who were not required to have a visa to enter the U.S. The agreement between the countries was signed in March 2025 and amended in June 2025 to clarify that it will apply retroactively to individuals who seek protection in the U.S. before the date the agreement enters into force, and not just to those who seek protection on or after the agreement goes into effect.

For additional information regarding the 2019 Asylum Cooperative Agreement between the U.S. and Honduras, please see this Trump 1.0 entry.

Third Country Deportation Watch provides detailed updates on this agreement.

Trump 2.0 [ID #1853]

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2026.01.13 Amended Complaint - Caballero-Arauz v. Bondi

Caballero-Arauz, a national of Panama seeking asylum, filed an amended complaint against the Trump administration to challenge the Asylum Cooperative Agreement (ACA) with Honduras and the interim final rule and related policies concerning ACAs. DHS had filed a motion to pretermit Caballero-Arauz’s asylum application, seeking her removal to Honduras under the ACA described in this entry. The plaintiff asserts that the application of the Honduras ACA to her contravenes the safe third country provision of the INA, constitutes arbitrary and capricious action, and would deprive her of statutory and constitutional rights. It further alleges that the government has issued a designation categorically finding that Honduras has a “full and fair” asylum process, and that this designation is contrary to law, arbitrary and capricious, and precludes required individualized, case-specific determinations. Finally, the plaintiff asserts that the pretermission violates her Fifth Amendment rights, including the right to notice, the right to present evidence, and the right to a full and fair hearing. Caballero-Arauz v. Bondi, No. 1:25-cv-15665 (N.D. lll.).

**Link to case here. Our litigation entries generally report only the initial complaint and any major substantive filings or decisions. For additional information, CourtListener provides access to PACER and all available pleadings. Other sites that track litigation in more detail or organize cases by topic include Civil Rights Clearinghouse, Justice Action Center, National Immigration Litigation Alliance, and Just Security**