The United States has sent about 2,300 Mexican nationals to Guatemala, despite objections from the Mexican government, as President Donald Trump steps up deportations.<\/p>\n
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo confirmed on Wednesday that his country has received about 2,284 Mexican nationals deported<\/a> from the US this year.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n \u201cThey are arriving on planes carrying Guatemalan returnees,\u201d Arevalo said in a news conference.<\/p>\n \u201cIn coordination with the Mexican government, what we have done is bring them through in transit so that we can return them to Mexican territory within 24 hours of their arrival in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n The removals are part of a growing trend of\u00a0third-country deportations<\/a> under Trump, who has sent migrants and asylum seekers from the US to countries they may have no connection to.<\/p>\n Largely, the Trump administration has justified such deportations by saying that the immigrants in question are unable to return to their home countries.<\/p>\n But that is not the case with Mexico, which has consistently accepted deportations from the US.<\/p>\n Critics have blasted the third-country removals as a form of punishment, effectively stranding migrants and asylum seekers far from home.<\/p>\n Speaking about the Mexican nationals sent to Guatemala, Arevalo has said that the deportees are quickly repatriated to their country, with the costs covered by either the Mexican or US government.<\/p>\n But Mexican officials voiced concern about the US sending its citizens to third-party countries.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mexican government has expressed its opposition to this practice to US authorities and has reiterated that every Mexican citizen has the right to enter the country,\u201d Mexico\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n Following a meeting with Guatemalan officials on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry also said that the two countries are united by shared values including shared security and \u201chuman mobility with dignity\u201d.<\/p>\n Guatemala is not the only country to receive Mexican nationals from the US in recent months. Reports have also emerged that some Mexicans have been transported to Honduras as well.<\/p>\n \u201cThey didn\u2019t tell us anything, just to get on the flight,\u201d Arturo Trejo, a Mexican man who was deported to Honduras, told the TV channel Telemundo.<\/p>\n Mexico\u2019s National Migration Institute (INM) told The Associated Press news agency that the US had justified the practice as a form of deterrence.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason is that the United States wants to prevent them from crossing back into its territory,\u201d the INM said.<\/p>\n The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), meanwhile, responded to inquiries about the practice by saying that it was \u201cutilising all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised\u201d.<\/p>\n But many human rights experts view the third-country deportations of Mexicans as an intimidation tactic.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we are seeing seems part of [a] broader trend towards a very severe US migration policy where they seek to instill terror and fear in migrants at all costs,\u201d Ana Maria Mendez, the Central America director at migrants rights group WOLA, told the news service Reuters.<\/p>\n As neighbours, the US and Mexico have long had a close relationship. The two countries remain top trading partners for one another, with a cross-border exchange of roughly $964.1bn in 2025 alone.<\/p>\n But since Trump returned to the presidency last year, the Mexican government has had to strike a delicate balance.<\/p>\n It has sought to cooperate with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement, while defending the rights of its citizens against alleged abuse.<\/p>\n Critics have accused immigration agents of using excessive violence during raids, and experts have noted a rising number of deaths<\/a> while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).<\/p>\n