WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has been deporting some Mexican citizens to Guatemala and Honduras rather than returning them to Mexico, an expansion of its controversial use of “third-country” deportations that officials say is intended in part to make it more difficult for migrants to return to the United States.
Department of Homeland Security officials who spoke with CBS News said some Mexican citizens have been deported to Guatemala and Honduras instead of being returned to their home country.
These deportations have reportedly been taking place for several months without widespread public knowledge in the United States. It has been reported that these deportations have involved “hundreds of Mexican citizens, although the exact number is unclear,” according to CBS News.
The Department of Homeland Security officials who provided the information to CBS News requested anonymity, saying they were not authorized to speak publicly with the media about the subject.
According to the officials, one purpose of the deportations is to discourage unauthorized immigration from Mexico. Sending some Mexican citizens farther south — away from the U.S.-Mexico border — can make it more difficult for them to attempt to return to the United States.
The officials said the U.S. government has not formally announced the policy.
This practice differs from previous deportations of Mexican citizens carried out by the United States. Under both Republican and Democratic administrations, Mexican migrants apprehended at the U.S. southern border have been deported to Mexico, sometimes to locations farther from the border. CBS News reported that immigration policy experts described the practice of sending Mexican deportees to other countries in the region as unprecedented.
The Trump administration has expanded the use of deportations to countries other than migrants’ countries of origin, a deportation practice known as “third-country” deportations.
CBS News reported that these arrangements have generally been used when migrants’ home countries have limited or refused to accept deported migrants from the United States, such as Cuba. Another circumstance is when migrants have received legal protections preventing their return to their home countries.
The situation involving Mexican citizens, however, differs because Mexico has historically accepted the return of its citizens. Mexico has also accepted some migrants from other Latin American countries who were deported from the United States.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry has stated its opposition to the “deportation of Mexican nationals to third countries and has no such agreement in place” with the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security defended the Trump administration’s broader deportation efforts in a statement to CBS News. A DHS spokesperson stated that the department is “utilizing all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised.”
CBS News has reached out to the governments of Guatemala and Honduras for comment about the deportation arrangements. Neither government has responded to the request for comment at this time.
Adam Isacson, a researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America who studies migration in the region, said the policy serves two purposes: “It makes it harder for them to try to cross the U.S. southern border. But it also sends a message of deterrence.”
Isacson also stated that this action by the U.S. government shows many immigrants that there is “a possible consequence of remaining undocumented in the United States and to encourage people to self-deport.”
The deportations are part of the U.S. removal of immigrants to countries other than the deportees’ countries of origin, as characterized by CBS News, as well as the broader removal of other immigrants from the U.S.
However, the reported deportations of Mexican citizens to Guatemala and Honduras are notable because Mexico has continued to accept the return of its citizens, while the exact number of Mexican citizens deported to Guatemala and Honduras remains unclear to the public.
To comment please go to one of these social media platforms:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavisVanguard
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/peoples-vanguard-of-davis-inc/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davisvanguard/
X: https://x.com/davisvanguard
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/vanguardnewsgroup.bsky.social
Subscribe to the Vanguard News letters. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org/donate or give directly through ActBlue. Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.
