US Deports Nearly 2,300 Mexicans to Guatemala Despite Objections

The U.S. administration has sent roughly 2,300 Mexican citizens to Guatemala, despite objections from the Mexican government, as President Donald Trump intensifies immigration enforcement efforts.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo confirmed on Wednesday that his country has received approximately 2,284 Mexican citizens deported from the U.S. this year.

“They arrived on flights carrying returning Guatemalans,” Arevalo said during a press conference.

“In coordination with the Mexican government, we facilitated their transit so they could be returned to Mexican territory within 24 hours of arriving here.”

The move is part of a growing trend of deportations to third countries under Trump, who has sent immigrants and asylum seekers from the U.S. to nations with which they may have no ties.

Mostly, the Trump administration justifies these deportations by claiming the migrants involved cannot return to their countries of origin. However, that is not the case with Mexico, which has always accepted deportees from the U.S.

Critics denounce third-country deportations as a punitive measure that leaves migrants and asylum seekers stranded far from home.

Regarding the Mexican citizens sent to Guatemala, President Arevalo stated that deportees were quickly returned to their homeland, with costs covered by the Mexican or U.S. governments. But Mexican officials have expressed concern over the U.S. sending its citizens to third countries.

“The Mexican government has expressed its opposition to this action with the U.S. administration and emphasized that every Mexican citizen has the right to enter the country,” Mexico's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. Following a meeting with Guatemalan officials on Tuesday, the ministry also noted that the two nations are bound by shared values, including mutual security and “humanitarian migration with dignity.”

Guatemala is not the only country receiving Mexican citizens from the U.S. in recent months. Reports have also indicated that some Mexicans have been transferred to Honduras.

“They didn't tell us anything, just said to get on the plane,” Arturo Trejo, a Mexican citizen deported to Honduras, told Telemundo.

Mexico's National Immigration Institute (INM) told the Associated Press that the U.S. justified the action as a deterrent. “The reason is that the U.S. wants to prevent them from crossing back into its territory,” INM said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded by saying it is “using every legal option to carry out the largest deportation campaign in history, as President Trump promised.”

However, many human rights experts view the deportation of Mexicans to third countries as a tactic of intimidation. “What we are witnessing seems to be part of a broader trend in the U.S.'s very harsh immigration policy, where they seek to instill terror and fear in migrants at all costs,” Ana Maria Mendez, Central America regional director for the migrant rights group WOLA, told Reuters.

As neighbors, the U.S. and Mexico have long maintained close ties. The two countries remain each other's top trading partners, with cross-border trade totaling approximately $964.1 billion in 2025 alone. But since Trump returned to office last year, the Mexican government has had to strike a delicate balance—cooperating with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement while protecting citizens' rights against allegations of abuse.

Critics accuse immigration agents of using excessive force during raids, and experts report a rise in deaths while in custody at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Since Trump returned to office, at least 15 Mexican citizens have died in ICE custody, and three others have died during enforcement operations. In response, the Mexican government has filed complaints with state prosecutors in the U.S., condemned conditions at ICE detention centers as “incompatible with human rights standards,” and requested regular visits by Mexican consular officials.