GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s Foreign Ministry says a Honduran asylum seeker has been returned by the United States to pursue asylum in Guatemala for the first time under an agreement signed in July.

The Honduran man, who was not identified, had reached the U.S. border but was sent to Guatemala Thursday.

Under the U.S.-Guatemala agreement, asylum seekers have to file claims in Guatemala rather than in the United States if they crossed through Guatemala on their way to the U.S. border.

Salvadorans would also be covered under the agreement because land routes to the U.S. border from that country lead through Guatemala.

However, there are doubts whether Guatemala can guarantee conditions for asylum seekers. So far this year, 49,000 of Guatemala’s own citizens have been deported from the United States.