Libro II Título I. Sistema Migratorio Guatemalteco

The Guatemalan Migration System is created as the set of state institutions that watch over migrants and the appropriate and effective regulation of the entry and exit of Guatemalans and foreigners to and from the territory of Guatemala and the transit and stay of foreigners therein, within a framework of respect, protection and safeguarding of human rights, of contribution to national development and protection of the inhabitants.

The Guatemalan Migration System shall act with due diligence in all its actions, observing the following principles:

a)Ex officio action: The public officials or employees act ex officio in carrying out their functions.

b)Timeliness: The public officials or employees in all their activities shall act in pursuit of reasonable time limits and in a proactive manner.

c)Independence and impartiality: All acts, resolutions and decisions that the public officials and employees of the Guatemalan Migration System perform, issue or adopt shall be based in law, adhering to legality and respect for human rights.

d)Transparency: Migration action shall guarantee access to public information under the parameters established by national legislation.

The Guatemalan Migratory System is composed of:

a)The National Migratory Authority.

b)The Guatemalan Institute of Migration.

c)The National Council for Attention to Migrants of Guatemala.

The entities comprising the Guatemalan Migratory System shall meet, at a minimum, once a year or in accordance with needs that may arise, to share information, good practices or any matter related to migrants.

The Migration Policy is the set of norms, institutions, procedures, programs, plans, budgets and actions that the State of Guatemala exclusively dedicates to address the right of persons to migrate.

The Migration Policy shall be issued by the National Migration Authority and executed by the Guatemalan Institute of Migration together with its subdirectorates.

It shall further coordinate with the remaining State institutions the policy actions in accordance with its mandate and competencies.

The institutions mentioned in this Code and in the national legislation of the country and that therefore have a direct link with the execution of the migration policy must develop, within their functions, that of addressing the matters for which the policy and national legislation require of them.

The principles upon which the Migration Policy must be designed and formed are:

a)Respect for the human rights of persons.

b)Guarantee of the right to migrate, the rights of migrants and migration law as distinct but complementary categories.

c)Exclusive jurisdiction in matters of the Guatemalan Institute of Migration.

d)Integration of the migration commitments undertaken by Guatemala before the International Community.

e)The security of migrant persons during origin, transit, destination and return.

f)The preservation of the national territory.

The National Migration Authority is hereby created, which is in charge of the formulation, creation and supervision of the Migration Policy and of security in migration matters.

The National Migration Authority is composed of the Vice President of the Republic, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Social Development, the Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, the Minister of the Interior, the Director of the Guatemalan Migration Institute and the Executive Secretary of the National Council for Attention to Migrants of Guatemala.

The Vice President of the Republic is in charge of directing the National Migration Authority. The Director of the Guatemalan Migration Institute shall serve as Technical Secretary of the National Migration Authority, who shall have voice but no vote in the sessions held; its operation shall be governed by the specific regulation.

The National Migration Authority shall meet at least once every three months in ordinary sessions, and in extraordinary sessions when necessary.

The functions of the National Migration Authority are:

a)To issue the Migration Policy.

b)To supervise compliance with the policy.

c)To modify the policy in accordance with the requirements of the President of the Republic, of the members themselves of the Authority, of the Congress of the Republic or of any other Government body that justifies the modification.

d)To request from the President of the Republic, in Council of Ministers, approval of the migration regularization plans referred to in this Code.

e)To approve the draft budget of the Guatemalan Institute for Migration.

f)To approve the regulations issued by the Guatemalan Institute for Migration.

g)To require technical reports from the Guatemalan Institute for Migration.

h)To require the reports on the execution and implementation of the Migration Policy.

i)To approve the strategic and annual plan of the Guatemalan Institute for Migration.

j)To promote the signing and ratification of agreements, treaties and international accords.

k)To request technical, statistical, academic studies or those deemed necessary for the adequate addressing of the needs of persons in the exercise of the right to migrate.

l)To delegate special commissions to some of its members, in accordance with their functions.

m)To require from state entities the reports it deems necessary to guarantee the right to migrate.

n)All those indicated in this Code and in national legislation.

In matters related to external or international migration policy, the National Migration Authority shall act in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in accordance with the international policy defined by the President of the Republic.

The Guatemalan Institute of Migration is created as a decentralized dependency of the Executive Branch.

The Guatemalan Institute of Migration has exclusive jurisdiction for the execution of the Migration Policy, the direct and indirect administration of the state provisions aimed at the management of the right to migrate, the budget execution approved for that purpose and the other provisions that are considered within the national legislation of the country.

For the fulfillment of its purposes and the execution of its functions, the Guatemalan Institute of Migration has jurisdiction throughout the national territory, with sufficient capacity to administer its financial, technical, human and administrative resources, as well as to acquire rights and obligations.

The Guatemalan Institute of Migration has as its mission to ensure respect for the human right to migrate, guaranteeing it through the adequate administration of migration law and the timely assistance and protection of those foreign or national migrant persons who require it. Likewise, to constitute itself as a decentralized body in the provision of public migration services, orienting its action toward respect for the human rights of persons.

The functions of the Guatemalan Migration Institute, in addition to those regulated in the regulations of this Code and national legislation, are the following:

a)To safeguard the rights of migrant persons.

b)To establish the administrative offices necessary for the care of migrant persons in the national territory and abroad.

c)To execute the Migration Policy issued by the National Migration Authority.

d)To be part of the National Migration Authority through the Director General.

e)To prepare technical, statistical and any other kind of reports for the constant updating of administrative provisions, as well as when required by the National Migration Authority or by the President of the Republic.

f)To coordinate with the Secretariats and Ministries of State the specific actions for the care, assistance and protection of migrant persons and to follow up on compliance with the results and goals of the Migration Policy.

g)To coordinate with the Secretariats and Ministries of State the administration of the migration service.

h)To integrate the specific sub-directorates created for the care of special situations.

i)To propose to the National Migration Authority the creation of temporary high-level commissions for addressing specific situations.

j)To propose to the National Migration Authority that the issuance of regularization plans be requested, in accordance with the provisions of this Code.

k)To maintain sub-directorates for the care, assistance and protection of migrant persons seeking asylum, refuge and humanitarian assistance.

l)To direct and control the application of the provisions for the entry of foreign persons into the national territory, as well as their stay and exit.

m)To direct and control the application of the provisions for ordinary, extraordinary and special migration statuses in accordance with this Code, the Migration Policy, international practices and national legislation.

n)To direct, control and administer the issuance and granting of international identity and travel documents, in accordance with this Code and the other administrative provisions issued for such purpose.

o)To apply and guarantee respect for the administrative procedures regulated in this Code.

p)To guarantee respect for labor rights and to promote the professionalization of the human resources of the Guatemalan Migration Institute.

q)To exclusively administer, under its responsibility, the databases specified in this Code; however, such databases are property of the State.

The Guatemalan Institute for Migration shall have the financial resources assigned to it in the General Budget of Income and Expenditures of the State and those derived from the following sources:

1)Fines imposed for violations as regulated by this Code;

2)The charge for the cost of travel documents requested in national territory and abroad, which are issued and authorized by the Guatemalan Institute for Migration;

3)The charge for the granting of a Guatemalan visa to a person originating from the State whose nationals are required to obtain a visa;

4)The charge for the cost of obtaining, extension, or change of the different migratory categories and statuses;

5)Income derived from processing charges under regularization plans;

6)Income derived from the charge for departures of foreigners from the national territory. The provisions and the corresponding amount shall be regulated in the regulations;

7)Contributions from public and private entities; and,

8)Any other income obtained under any lawful title.

The financial resources derived from the sources listed above have a privative character in favor of the Guatemalan Institute for Migration; therefore, they shall be allocated exclusively to the professional career of personnel, infrastructure, equipment, maintenance, operating expenses, and assistance to migrants.

The Guatemalan Migration Institute is directed by the Director General, who exercises his functions with absolute independence of judgment and under his entire responsibility in accordance with national legislation, without prejudice to the directives and guidelines determined by the National Migration Authority for the effective execution of the national migration policy.

The Director General is liable for the damage and losses that he causes through the acts and omissions incurred in the exercise of his office.

The Director General may enter into agreements on migration matters with the relevant national and international entities; as well as with similar institutions and foreign security institutions for the purpose of sharing and consulting information.

The President of the Republic is responsible for appointing the person who shall occupy the position of Director of the Guatemalan Migration Institute, in accordance with the qualifications set forth in this Code, who shall grant such person appointment for a period of five years, extendable.

If the permanent vacancy of the Director occurs, the person to be appointed shall begin a new period of five years, extendable.

For the position of Director of the Guatemalan Institute of Migration, the same qualifications as to be Minister of State are required.

A person who falls within the following circumstances may not be appointed Director General of the Guatemalan Migration Institute:

a)Being a supplier, representative of the supplier, director or trusted employee of the supplier of services or goods contracted by the State in any of its agencies.

b)Being a minister of worship or religious leader.

c)Having pending criminal proceedings for any crime provided for in national legislation.

d)Having been convicted of crimes against the public administration, life, liberty, sexual indemnity or personal integrity. Likewise, having been declared to have violated or threatened human rights of children and adolescents.

The General Director is suspended from his functions when, due to duly justified temporary situations, he requests permission from the National Migration Authority for a specified period of time.

The General Director may be removed by the President of the Republic at the request of the National Migration Authority if the General Director incurs in any of the following causes:

a)Committing fraudulent, illegal acts or acts evidently opposed to the functions or interests of the Guatemalan Migration Institute or the State in general.

b)Being convicted in a final judgment for the commission of intentional crimes.

c)Pronouncing in favor of a political party or running as a candidate for an office subject to popular election.

The Deputy Director General shall replace the Director General of the Guatemalan Migration Institute in the following cases:

a)Temporary absence or illness;

b)Suspension of functions;

c)Declaration by competent authority of physical or mental incapacity for the exercise of the office;

d)Removal;

e)Resignation;

f)Death; and,

g)Abandonment.

For the cases in items c) to g), the Deputy Director General shall temporarily replace the Director General until a new Director is appointed.

The general functions of the Director General, in addition to those provided in other legal instruments, are the following:

1.To ensure at all times free access to the right to migrate for every person and not to impose more limits than those established in national legislation, as well as in the treaties and agreements approved and ratified by Guatemala in matters of human rights, refugee law, humanitarian law and international criminal law.

2.To direct the Guatemalan Institute of Migration in accordance with the national migration policy, this Code and national legislation.

3.To execute the National Migration Policy and establish the administrative provisions for that purpose.

4.To legally represent the Guatemalan Institute of Migration.

5.To submit for consideration and approval by the Migration Authority the strategic and annual plan of the Guatemalan Institute of Migration. Likewise, the draft annual budget.

6.To issue the general and specific regulations for approval by the National Migration Authority.

7.To acquire property and services for the Guatemalan Institute of Migration.

8.To sign contracts for the fulfillment of the purposes of the Guatemalan Institute of Migration.

9.To subscribe accords, letters of understanding and agreements with civil cooperation institutions, national or international.

10.To appoint and remove the migration sub-directors.

11.To be a member of the National Migration Authority.

The specific functions of the Director General, in addition to those provided in other legal instruments, are the following:

1.To issue the internal human resources policy and its administration through the corresponding internal entity, including the migration professional career.

2.To approve the programs, projects and plans of each subdirectorate and of the administrative units of the Guatemalan Institute of Migration.

3.To supervise budgetary execution and approve its internal adjustments in accordance with the corresponding programs, projects and plans.

4.To give the instructions appropriate to the service and to the exercise of functions, both of a general nature and relating to its specific matters.

5.To integrate the National Institute of Statistics into the statistical-compilation provisions.

6.To coordinate with the Deputy Director General the stages of the administrative procedures regulated in this Code and the regulations.

The legal representation exercised by the Director General may be expressly delegated to act on behalf of the Director General in the corresponding administrative or judicial proceedings in which functions attributed to the Guatemalan Institute of Migration by this Code, its regulations and national legislation are exercised.

To be appointed Deputy Director General, the same qualifications established in this Code for the Director General must be met. The Deputy Director General shall be appointed by the Director General.

The Deputy Director General shall substitute for the Director General in the cases provided for in Article 130 of this Code. They shall have the functions assigned to them by the regulations and internal provisions of the Guatemalan Migration Institute, in addition to the following:

1.To direct and coordinate the preparation, design, implementation and evaluation of modernization and institutional strengthening projects pursuing efficiency and efficacy, which they shall submit to the Director General for approval.

2.To be the central internal coordinating entity with the migration deputy directors with regard to the administrative procedures regulated in this Code and the regulations.

3.To represent the Guatemalan Migration Institute before national authorities or before international entities when requested by the Director General.

4.To direct the migratory professionalization studies unit in accordance with the provisions issued by the Director General and in coordination with the corresponding internal units.

5.To be a member of the Assistance and Protection Council and to execute, in coordination with the migration subdirectorates and in agreement with the Director General, the provisions adopted within the Council.

6.Any other functions assigned to the Deputy Director General by the Director General of the Guatemalan Migration Institute.

The Subdirectorates are structured and organized under the criteria of effectiveness and efficiency, in accordance with the competencies, functions and attributions established in this Code and the internal regulations of the Guatemalan Institute for Migration.

Functions within the competence of the Subdirectorates may be delegated to the units that the Guatemalan Institute for Migration establishes in the regions or departments of the Republic for the fulfillment of its purposes.

The subdirectorates shall be directed by a Subdirector, who is the highest authority hierarchically within each subdirectorate.

The Subdirector is responsible for compliance with the functions and attributions assigned to their respective subdirectorates in accordance with this Code, the regulations, the provisions issued by the Director General and any others deriving from national legislation.

The Subdirectors are appointed by the Director General in accordance with the qualifications and requirements established in the regulations.

However, it must be ensured that the persons are university professionals, active members of their professional association, over thirty years of age, giving greater merit to those who have a career within the State migration field.

The Guatemalan Migration Institute has as its superior hierarchical authority the Director General, a function that may be performed by the Deputy Director General in accordance with the provisions of this Code. However, for the efficient and effective functioning of the attributions, the following organic structure of the subdirectorates is established:

1.Substantive and Operational Structure

a)Subdirectorate of Assistance and Protection of the Fundamental Rights of Migrants.

b)Subdirectorate of Foreign Nationals Affairs.

c)Subdirectorate of Migration Control.

d)Subdirectorate of Personal Identity and Travel Documents.

e)Subdirectorate of Migration Policy.

2.Technical Support Structure

a)Subdirectorate of Planning.

b)Subdirectorate of Legal Affairs.

c)Subdirectorate of Professional Responsibility.

d)Subdirectorate of International Migration Relations.

e)Subdirectorate of User Services.

3.Administrative Structure

a)Subdirectorate of Financial Affairs.

b)Subdirectorate of Human Resources and Personnel Professionalization.

c)Subdirectorate of Administrative and Logistical Support.

d)Subdirectorate of Technological Resources, Communications and Information Technology.

The administrative and operational structure of the Guatemalan Institute of Migration is composed of five subdirectorates, which are defined as follows:

a)Subdirectorate for Attention and Protection of Fundamental Rights of Migrants. It shall have the following responsibilities:

a.1 To order the necessary actions for the assistance and protection of migrant persons by the State of Guatemala, especially unaccompanied boys, girls and adolescents, families, pregnant migrant women.

a.2 To assist applicants for recognition of refugee status, refugees, applicants for political asylum under the figure of territorial or diplomatic asylum and political asylees under the figure of territorial or diplomatic asylum, and of the extraordinary migratory status regulated by this Code.

a.3 To support the procedures for temporary shelter and care, communication and family contact and requests by foreigners to be returned to their country of origin or provenance.

a.4 To order, regulate and authorize the operation, characteristics and conditions of dignity, security, reliability and supervision of the special houses for protection, shelter and care of foreign migrants, as well as of returned nationals. The internal or regulatory provisions shall be regulated in the regulation of this Code.

b)Subdirectorate of Extranjería: It is responsible for the issuance, registration and control of visas and residencies, after verifying the truthfulness and validity of the required information and documents in accordance with the categories defined in this Code and as established in the regulation. It also has the following responsibilities;

b.1 In the process of evaluation, analysis and approval of applications and renewals of visas and residencies, it shall collect the biographical and biometric information of the persons who request them, which shall be verified against the public security databases. In the case of visa applications of persons from countries where Guatemala does not have consular representation, the biographical and biometric information shall be verified at the time the person appears at the immigration control post in Guatemala. The requirements for the granting of visas and residencies shall be developed in the regulation of this Code.

b.2. To notify foreign residents in Guatemala of the expiry of the residencies granted, as well as the management of modifications to the register of foreigners.

b.3. To suggest to the Director General the need for plans for migratory regularization of foreigners.

The Subdirectorate of Extranjería shall have a field immigration verification unit. The personnel who work in this unit must be evaluated periodically through reliability tests.

c)Subdirectorate of Migratory Control: It is responsible for controlling and registering the entry and exit of nationals and foreigners to and from the national territory, in accordance with the provisions of this Code and current national legislation, through the national border posts, by air, land or sea routes. For foreigners it implies monitoring compliance with the legal provisions regarding their entry, exit, stay and activities in the country. With the exception of the border posts between countries with which treaties or agreements on free transit have been signed or may be signed. This Subdirectorate, through a field verification unit, has the function of verifying in any place of the national territory the migratory situation of persons who hold migratory status in accordance with the categories defined in this Code and as established in the regulation.

Border migratory control of entry and exit shall collect the biographical and biometric information of users at the border points, with the exception of land border posts, in the cases regulated by free-transit agreements.

The Subdirectorate of Migratory Control shall also have a field verification unit, which shall verify that all natural or juridical persons who provide transportation services deliver the Advance Passenger Information (APIS, for its acronym in English), also being in charge of verifying said information. Upon failure by the carriers to submit this information, they shall be subject to the corresponding sanctions to be regulated in the regulation of this Code.

The personnel who work in the units provided for in this literal shall be evaluated periodically through reliability tests, and in the performance of their functions shall permanently assist the unit of the National Civil Police responsible for citizen security in ports, airports and air, land and sea border posts.

d)Subdirectorate of Personal Identity and Travel Documents: It is responsible for establishing the processes and systems necessary to issue in a secure, efficient, diligent and consistent manner the identity and travel documents of Guatemalans and foreigners stipulated in this Code, as well as of persons in extraordinary and special migratory status.

e)Subdirectorate of Migratory Policy: Growing migration and its problems demand the generation and systematization of statistics that can account for the flows of migrants of origin, destination, transit and return to the territory.

In accordance with its attributions, the Subdirectorate of Migratory Policy of the Guatemalan Institute of Migration shall produce information, with the collaboration of the institutions it deems pertinent, on the trends, magnitudes and characteristics of migratory flows, based on the administrative records generated at the various entry points, migratory stations, offices of the Guatemalan Institute of Migration or any other it deems pertinent.

Likewise, the Subdirectorate shall promote the continuous conduct of surveys on migration at the borders, which shall contribute to generating policies on the matter for greater social knowledge of the migratory phenomenon.

The Director General of the Institute and each of the subdirectors shall be jointly and severally liable for the integrity and safekeeping of the respective databases.

The technical support structure is composed of five subdirectorates which are defined as follows:

a)Planning Subdirectorate: It is responsible for coordinating the process of planning, programming and evaluation of the strategic and annual plans to achieve implementation of the national migration policy and the assigned budget.

b)Legal Affairs Subdirectorate: It is responsible for reviewing and suggesting to the Director General the decisions in cases of asylum, refuge applications and in those of extraordinary migratory status. Likewise, it shall provide permanent support to the entire organic structure of the Guatemalan Migration Institute.

c)Professional Responsibility Subdirectorate: It is responsible for processing the receipt of complaints against employees and public officials, investigating them and determining the need to open a disciplinary administrative procedure. If the existence of crimes is determined, it shall inform the Director General for the filing of the complaint before the Public Prosecutor's Office.

d)International Migratory Relations Subdirectorate: It is responsible, in coordination with the National Council for Attention to Migrants of Guatemala, for advising on migratory matters of international relations to the other subdirectorates, in order to address the rights of Guatemalan persons abroad.

e)User Services Subdirectorate: It is responsible for maintaining control and register of all applications filed before the Guatemalan Migration Institute and its Subdirectorates in order to centralize the system for receipt of applications, documentation and notification of decisions. It shall receive, compile, manage, classify and distribute the applications and files accordingly. Likewise, it is responsible for providing information, legal requirements, processing times and everything related to procedures to user persons. It shall establish the public information access office in accordance with national legislation.

The administrative structure is composed of four subdirectorates, which are defined as follows:

a)Subdirectorate of Financial Affairs: It is responsible for the administration of financial resources in accordance with the principles of transparency, efficiency, effectiveness and optimal administration, as well as budgetary and accounting operations. It is in charge of coordinating the supervision of budget execution and annual planning with the Subdirectorate of Planning.

b)Subdirectorate of Human Resources and Personnel Professionalization: It is responsible for implementing the human resources policy in accordance with the guidelines of the General Director and administering the human resource of the Guatemalan Migration Institute in accordance with the objectives of achieving full enjoyment of labor rights, staff integration and professional development through a career whose objective is institutional service development.

c)Subdirectorate of Administrative and Logistical Support: It is responsible for providing support to the General Director, Deputy General Director, Subdirectorates, Departments, Units, Migration Centers and any other institutional entity so that they may have the equipment, property, supplies, necessary services and coordination of logistics processes to fulfill their functions.

d)Subdirectorate of Technological Resources, Communications and Information Technology: It is responsible for administering all matters related to databases, networks, computer equipment, telecommunications and computer systems necessary for the adequate, modern and optimal functioning of the automated systems and components of the Guatemalan Migration Institute.

Databases shall be in uniform and standardized format for use in internal queries that may be shared with national security institutions, except for sensitive information as established by law.

The Director General may expand, create, modify or merge the number of subdirectorates in accordance with the needs of the Institute; however, the expansion, creation, modification and merger of these structures must be justified and shall be authorized by the National Migration Authority.

For its legal regulation, amendment to the present Code shall not be necessary, but rather through the specific regulation to be issued.

The Subdirectorate of Internal Audit is responsible for conducting objective and systematic examinations of the financial, administrative, technical and operational operations of all the departments that make up the Guatemalan Migration Institute, for the purpose of evaluating procedures, internal controls and records, as well as ensuring compliance with the laws, regulations, rules and manuals governing the same, suggesting both preventive and corrective measures in order to optimize the use of resources.

The Guatemalan Migration Institute has the advisory bodies that shall be denominated departments, being the following:

a)Social Communication;

b)Migration Studies and Policies; and,

c)Statistics and Archives.

The departments shall be directed by heads who shall be appointed by the General Director and are the highest hierarchical authority within each department.

The heads of the advisory organs have the special function of advising the Director General, the Deputy Director General and the organic structures defined in this Code. They are structured and organized under the criteria of effectiveness and efficiency, in accordance with the competencies, functions and powers provided for in the internal regulations of the Guatemalan Migration Institute.

The Director General may expand the number of departments in accordance with the needs of the Institute; however, the creation of this structure must be justified and shall be authorized by the National Migration Authority.

For its legal regulation, amendment of the present Code shall not be necessary, but by means of the specific regulation to be issued.

The migration career is created, which constitutes a profession recognized by the State, which shall comprise the process of selection, formation, training, professionalization, evaluation, promotion, suspension and removal, through which the migration administration is guaranteed duly qualified personnel, with a vocation of service and ethics in the performance of their functions.

The Guatemalan Institute of Migration, for purposes of the creation and strengthening of the migration career and the migration profession, shall promote the creation of the university migration degree program with universities of the country or institutions in general.

All personnel of new labor entry or of promotion to the Guatemalan Institute of Migration must undergo, prior to establishing their labor or contractual relationship, the periodic reliability tests that shall be regulated in the regulations under this Code.

Personnel are subject to a manual for the classification of positions and wages, in which the conditions for promotions, transfers and removals must be developed, considering merit qualifications and ongoing performance evaluations.

This manual, in addition, must contain at a minimum: the designation, specializations, functions, responsibilities and requirements of each position, its hierarchical scale and the corresponding wage.

The competitive examination system is established for promotions and appointments to work positions, which must be regulated accordingly and developed in the specific manual.

The Deputy Director General is responsible for approving and directing the execution of the professional career plans submitted by the Professionalization Studies Unit for migration personnel. The unit shall be attached to the Subdirectorate of Human Resources and Personnel Professionalization.

For the effective fulfillment of its functions, the Guatemalan Migration Institute may establish at any time accords, agreements, mechanisms and projects for interinstitutional cooperation with the Human Rights Ombudsman and with the National Office for the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

The Guatemalan Migration Institute must establish a close relationship of cooperation with the Migrants Commission of the Congress of the Republic, in order to maintain a permanent dialogue on the needs of the migrant population and the necessary legislative measures.

Likewise, the Guatemalan Migration Institute must obligatorily submit a written annual report of activities to the Migrants Commission of the Congress of the Republic, in the last fifteen days of the month of January of each year.

The Guatemalan Migration Institute, with its counterparts, may develop relations of cooperation, assistance and joint work.

At no time may the Guatemalan Migration Institute act on behalf of the State before international bodies in matters of international policy; for such purpose it must resort to the competent authority.

The Guatemalan Migration Institute may develop cooperation, assistance and joint-work relationships with civil society entities, and may sign accords or agreements.

In no case may it agree to the transfer of funds of the Guatemalan Migration Institute to non-profit, for-profit, business or commercial civil organizations.

The functions of the Guatemalan Migration Institute are non-delegable.

The Guatemalan Migration Institute shall maintain a close relationship with other State dependencies, decentralized or autonomous, with respect to their competencies, functions and prerogatives under the law.

The Guatemalan Migration Institute shall maintain complementary relations with the National Council for Attention to Migrants of Guatemala. Complementarity shall be understood as cooperation and integration of actions aimed at the attention to and protection of the human rights and individual guarantees of Guatemalans abroad.

In order not to duplicate budgets and State actions, both institutions must jointly review their strategic and annual plans, observing respect for their specific functions, determining the cooperation actions and establishing the aspects in which they must mutually strengthen each other.

In addition to the cooperation actions defined as a result of mutual strengthening and within national legislation, both institutions shall cooperate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in:

a)Necessary assistance to Guatemalans abroad for obtaining official migration, personal identity documents, or those that by provision of the laws of the country must be processed through the consulates.

b)Permanent dialogue with authorities of foreign countries on the conditions, treatment, hygiene and health of Guatemalans in migration centers or during deportation or return.

c)To coordinate with shelters for shelter and temporary protection for Guatemalans who request aid to return to the country.

d)To process requests for return aid by Guatemalans to the country.

The Council for Assistance and Protection is hereby created as the entity of the National Migratory Authority responsible for the following actions:

a)Generate prevention and information campaigns on the risks of migration and the rights of migrant persons.

b)Generate awareness-raising programs for the education sector to address the issue of migration, especially with girls, boys and adolescents.

c)Promote the reporting of human rights violations.

d)Create health assistance programs for deported or returned persons.

e)Assist the families of migrant persons considered disappeared during migration, generating mechanisms for contact with foreign authorities.

f)Develop all those that are necessary to warn persons about the risks of migration, the assistance of deported or returned persons and the relief of the search and identification needs of families.

The Director of the Guatemalan Institute of Migration, through the Council for Assistance and Protection, in coordination with the National Council for Assistance to Migrants of Guatemala, may create coordination links and, with associations of returned persons and associations of migrants abroad and in Guatemala, facilitate the creation of mechanisms for the use of remittances and the adequate investment thereof. Likewise, the promotion and participation of private enterprise, communities, local cooperatives and nonprofit civil associations for the creation of employability and productivity programs for returned persons, family members and migrant communities. He may at all times promote that such activities prioritize communities, municipalities and departments with higher rates of underdevelopment and migration.

The Care and Protection Council shall be composed of the following institutions:

1.The Director General of the Guatemalan Migration Institute, who shall preside over it.

2.The Executive Secretary of the National Council for Attention to Migrants of Guatemala.

3.A Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education.

4.A Vice Minister of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance.

5.A Vice Minister of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.

6.A Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior.

7.A Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

8.A Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy.

9.A Vice Minister of the Ministry of Social Development.

10.The Representative delegated by the Attorney General.

11.The Undersecretary of the Undersecretariat for Protection and Foster Care of Children and Adolescents, of the Secretariat of Social Welfare of the Presidency of the Republic.

12.The Representative delegated by the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman.

The Care and Protection Council, for the fulfillment of its purposes, may invite to ordinary and extraordinary meetings the state entities or international organizations that it considers appropriate, by reason of their specialty, for the definition of specific plans or programs.

During the first six months following the entry into force of this Code, the Care and Protection Council must meet for the purpose of establishing a work agenda that will allow it to have, within one year, meeting as many times as necessary, a definition of the procedures to be followed for the cases indicated within the actions entrusted to it by this Code.

Such definition of procedures must be submitted to the National Migratory Authority for its validation and integration into the National Migratory Policy.

The Attention and Protection Council shall meet, after the definition of the procedures, in ordinary session once every semester and in extraordinary session as many times as necessary.

The General Director shall be in charge of the coordination and execution of the procedures, with the support of the State institutions that are members of the Council; for such purpose, within the same definition of procedures, responsibilities shall be established according to the exclusive subject matter of each institution.

Security at migration posts shall always be oriented toward the protection of the person and their rights.

When intervention by the National Civil Police is required, the least possible impact on the person shall always be observed, establishing mechanisms for the use of force and weapons in a proportional and necessary manner, in accordance with special procedures.

The Director of the Guatemalan Migration Institute shall promote before the Ministry of the Interior that the National Civil Police include in its curriculum special training for addressing the rights of migrant persons, as well as knowledge of international human rights and humanitarian law. In turn, [he/she] shall promote that the agents and officers of the National Civil Police assigned for security in migration centers and posts possess the highest human qualities and remain in constant training on the provisions to guarantee the content of Article 167 of this Code.

The Guatemalan Migration Institute must coordinate with the Ministry of the Interior actions in matters of security within the migratory posts. These actions shall be intended to:

1.Guarantee the security of persons within the migratory posts, so that they are not victims of acts of violence against their integrity or their property.

2.Establish mechanisms to detain persons who attempt to leave the country and who have a prior judicial detention order.

3.Establish mechanisms for the detention of persons in flagrante delicto.

4.The jurisdiction in situations of disturbance of order within the migratory posts.

5.All those that are necessary to safeguard the security of persons.

The National Civil Police is the authority empowered to detain persons; the public official or employee of the immigration post must immediately inform or alert the National Civil Police so that it proceeds in accordance with its protocol.

Detained persons may not remain deprived of liberty within immigration posts.