First Central American Migrant Offered Asylum In Guatemala Returns Home to Honduras Instead

The first Central American migrant offered asylum in Guatemala, under an arrangement between that country and the U.S., has decided to return to his home in Honduras, according to the Associated Press.

Erwin José Ardón Montoya, 23, travelled to the U.S. in September in a bid to see his newborn daughter. The daughter’s mother had chosen to migrate to the U.S. while still pregnant.

“I wanted to see my daughter, to help her,” Ardón Montoya told his parents through tears as he arrived at his family’s home in Trujillo, Honduras.

Ardón Montoya was caught by federal agents in El Paso, Texas. He was offered a job and a place to live in Guatemala, but chose to return to his family.