‘Broadcast the hardship’: The U.S. has been deporting Mexican migrants to Guatemala and Honduras, even though Mexico is willing to accept them

The Trump administration has been quietly sending migrants from Mexico to Guatemala and Honduras instead of returning them to Mexico, according to two Department of Homeland Security officials who spoke to CBS News. This is happening even though the Mexican government has said it is willing to take back all of its citizens.

The officials, who asked not to be named because they were not allowed to speak to the press, said U.S. immigration authorities have been flying these deportees around Mexican territory and sending them to Central America instead. The government has not made any formal announcement about this practice.

According to the officials, one goal of these deportations is to discourage people from Mexico from crossing into the U.S. illegally by sending some of them even farther from the border.

Mexico says it has no agreement allowing deportations to other countries

The DHS officials said this practice has been going on for months and has affected hundreds of Mexican citizens who were sent to Honduras and Guatemala. One official said the exact number of people affected is not known yet. The consequences of removals to unfamiliar countries can be severe, as seen in a deported mother’s fight to return to her sick son.

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry responded with a statement to CBS News opposing the move. “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,” the ministry said. The statement added that Mexico “consistently takes the steps necessary to ensure the safe and dignified return of all its nationals to national territory.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said the Trump administration “is utilizing all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised.”

In the past, under both Republican and Democratic presidents, the U.S. has deported Mexican migrants caught at the southern border deep into Mexico. The idea behind this was to make it harder for them to try crossing again. However, immigration policy experts say sending Mexican deportees to other countries in the region has not happened before.

The Trump administration has expanded deportations to what are called “third countries,” meaning countries that are not the deportee’s home country. Until now, this has mostly applied to migrants whose home countries either limit or refuse U.S. deportations, such as Cuba, or to migrants who have won legal protection from being sent back to their home country. Mexico is different because it has always accepted deportees sent back from the U.S., including citizens of other Latin American countries.

Adam Isacson, a researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America who studies migration in the region, described the policy as mostly a form of punishment. “This is almost entirely punitive,” Isacson said. Other reporting has examined claims about pressuring immigrants to self-deport, a tactic tied to the broader push behind these policies.

Isacson said sending Mexican migrants to Honduras and Guatemala serves two purposes for the U.S. government. First, it makes it more difficult for these migrants to attempt crossing the U.S. southern border again. Second, it sends a broader warning to others who might be considering the same journey.

“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,” Isacson said.