Mexico is objecting to the Trump administration’s reported practice of deporting some Mexican citizens to Guatemala and Honduras rather than returning them directly to Mexico, saying Tuesday that it has never entered into an agreement permitting such removals.
CBS News reported that the Trump administration has quietly been transporting Mexican deportees to the two Central American countries. The report cited two Department of Homeland Security officials who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
According to the officials, one purpose of the policy is to discourage illegal immigration from Mexico by placing some deported Mexican nationals significantly farther from the U.S.-Mexico border.
One DHS official said the practice has been underway for several months and that hundreds of Mexican citizens have been deported to Guatemala and Honduras. The exact number of people affected remains unclear.
“The Government of Mexico accepts the return of all its nationals. It therefore rejects the deportation of Mexican nationals to third countries and has no such agreement in place,” Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement to CBS News. “Mexico consistently takes the steps necessary to ensure the safe and dignified return of all its nationals to national territory.”
The Trump administration has substantially increased its use of third-country deportations, in which migrants are removed to nations other than their countries of citizenship. According to CBS News, the approach has generally been used when a migrant’s home country, including Cuba, refuses or restricts deportation flights, or when an individual has legal protections preventing removal to his or her country of origin.
Mexico presents a different situation because it has traditionally accepted its citizens who are deported from the United States. The country has also received migrants from other Latin American nations who were removed by U.S. authorities.
“This is almost entirely punitive,” Adam Isacson, a researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America who studies regional migration patterns, told CBS News.
Isacson said sending Mexican migrants to Guatemala or Honduras creates an additional obstacle for anyone considering another attempt to enter the United States illegally, while simultaneously serving as a warning to other migrants.
“It’s the same as the purpose of sending them to Ecuador or Africa or anywhere else: to broadcast the hardship, to make sure people know that this is a possible consequence of remaining undocumented in the United States, and to encourage people to self-deport,” he explained.
Asked by Newsmax about the reported practice, both DHS and the White House defended President Trump’s overall deportation campaign but did not specifically answer questions concerning Mexican citizens being transported to third countries.
“The Trump Administration is utilizing all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President [Donald] Trump promised,” a DHS spokesperson told Newsmax.
A White House official offered a similar defense, telling Newsmax, “The Trump Administration is using all the tools in our toolbox to carry out the largest, lawful deportation operation of criminal illegal aliens in history.”
Neither the White House nor DHS explained why Mexican nationals would be deported to Guatemala or Honduras instead of Mexico, responded directly to the Mexican government’s objections, or clarified what legal or diplomatic arrangements allow the third-country removals.
