(CNN) US Border Patrol agents and other Department of Homeland Security law enforcement officers will be sent to Guatemala to assist in training missions with local authorities as part of a two-year plan aimed at decreasing migration flows to the United States.

Agents will be "side-by-side" with local Guatemalan authorities, deployed to locations where US law enforcement has not traditionally operated, according to a senior DHS official.

This is a unique surge of DHS personnel to Guatemala, with a "significant increase" in US law enforcement presence in the country, said acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan.

The deployment of DHS officers follows an agreement signed earlier this week between the US and Guatemalan governments. It comes as the administration is trying to find a way to stem the influx of migrant families, mostly from Central America, through Mexico to the US.

The number of migrants illegally crossing the the southern US border has been on a steady upswing, resulting in dangerous overcrowding in US holding facilities at the border. The month of May is on pace to have the highest number of border crossings in over 12 years, according to McAleenan.

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