US deports nearly 2,300 Mexicans to Guatemala over Mexico’s objections

As President Donald Trump steps up deportations, the United States has sent regarding 2, 300 Mexican nationals to Guatemala, despite objections from the Mexican administration.

Key points

• Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo confirmed on Wednesday that his country has received regarding 2, 284 Mexican nationals deported from the US this year.
• Mexico's National Migration Institute (INM) informed The Associated Press news agency that the US had justified the practice as a form of deterrence.
• "They didn't tell us anything, just to get on the flight, " Arturo Trejo, a Mexican man who was deported to Honduras, informed the TV channel Telemundo.
• Since Trump returned to office, at least 15 Mexican nationals have died in ICE custody, and another three died during enforcement operations.
• "They are arriving on planes carrying Guatemalan returnees, " Arevalo remarked in a news conference.

"In 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."

In practice, the removals are part of a growing trend of third-country deportations under Trump. This person has sent migrants and asylum seekers from the US to countries they may have no connection to.

Largely, the Trump administration has justified such deportations by saying that the immigrants in question are unable to return to their home countries.

But that is not the case with Mexico. It has consistently accepted deportations from the US.

Critics have blasted the third-country removals as a form of punishment, effectively stranding migrants and asylum seekers far from home.

Speaking regarding the Mexican nationals sent to Guatemala, Arevalo has stated that the deportees are rapidly repatriated to their country, with the costs covered by either the Mexican or US administration.

But Mexican authorities voiced concern concerning the US sending its citizens to third-party countries.

"The 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, " Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs remarked in an official note on Thursday.

After a gathering with Guatemalan authorities on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry additionally stated that the two countries are united by shared values including shared security and "human mobility with dignity".

Guatemala is not the only country to receive Mexican nationals from the US in recent months. Reports have additionally emerged that some Mexicans have been transported to Honduras as well.

"The reason is that the United States wants to prevent them from crossing back into its territory, " the INM remarked.

Notably, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), meanwhile, responded to inquiries regarding the practice by saying that it was "utilising all lawful options to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, just as President Trump promised".

But plenty of human rights experts view the third-country deportations of Mexicans as an intimidation tactic.

"What we are seeing seems part of broader trend towards a very severe US migration policy where they seek to instill terror and fear in migrants at all costs, " Ana Maria Mendez, the Central America director at migrants rights group WOLA, informed the news service Reuters.

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.

But since Trump returned to the presidency last year, the Mexican administration has had to strike a delicate balance.

While defending the rights of its citizens against alleged abuse, it has sought to cooperate with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement.

Critics have accused immigration agents of using excessive violence during raids, and experts have observed a rising number of deaths while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In response, the Mexican administration has filed complaints with state prosecutors in the US. It has additionally denounced conditions in ICE detention centres as "incompatible with human rights standards" and called on regular visits from Mexican consular authorities.

Taken together, the developments around US deports nearly 2, 300 Mexicans to Guatemala over Mexico's objections point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.