Mexico Rejects US Deportations of Its Migrants to Guatemala and Honduras

MEXICO · MIGRATION

Mexico has formally rejected the Trump administration’s third-country deportations of its citizens, after it emerged that more than 2,300 Mexicans were flown to Guatemala and Honduras this year even though Mexico accepts every one of its nationals back.

The border wall between Tijuana and San Diego. The US has flown more than 2,300 deported Mexicans to Guatemala and Honduras. (Photo: Tomascastelazo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Mexico says no to third-country deportations

The dispute broke into the open on 18 August, when CBS News revealed that US immigration authorities were quietly putting deported Mexicans on planes to Central America. The flights bypassed Mexico entirely.

Mexico’s foreign ministry answered within days. “The Government of Mexico accepts the return of all its nationals,” its statement read. “It therefore rejects the deportation of Mexican nationals to third countries.”

That rejection is the official position going into the autumn. It sets up a rare open disagreement between two governments that otherwise cooperate closely on migration.

The scale is larger than first thought. Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo confirmed on 19 August that his country had received 2,284 Mexican citizens so far in 2026, on top of 15 in 2025.

The Guatemala and Honduras pipeline

Arévalo described the Mexicans as transit passengers. They arrive on the same flights that bring home Guatemalan deportees, stay in Guatemala City for less than 24 hours, and are then transferred to Mexico.

“There is no stay, there is no shelter,” he said. He explicitly ruled out any arrangement that would give the arrivals access to Guatemala’s asylum system.

Honduras tells a similar story in smaller numbers. Official documents show 82 Mexicans landed in San Pedro Sula on two flights on 13 and 15 August, with 35 more the following week and some arriving on US military aircraft.

Honduran media count about 375 Mexicans sent there this year. Costa Rica has received 11 since President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Why Washington uses third-country deportations

Mexico’s National Migration Institute, the agency known as INM, says Washington has offered a plain explanation. “The reason is that the United States wants to prevent them from crossing back into its territory,” the institute told the Associated Press.

The Department of Homeland Security defends the practice in broader terms. It says it is “utilising all lawful options” to carry out what it calls the largest deportation operation in US history.

Immigration lawyers see something else. They believe third-country deportations work as a legal loophole, pushing asylum seekers back to Mexico when a judge’s order blocks a direct return.

Rights groups put it more bluntly. Savitri Arvey of Human Rights First said the tactic “seems to be to put pressure on the Mexican government” and to stop Mexicans crossing at all.

What Velasco and Rubio discussed in Washington

The row landed in the middle of high-level diplomacy. Mexican Foreign Secretary Roberto Velasco Álvarez met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on 26 August.

According to Mexico’s official readout, both men highlighted progress on security, drug and arms trafficking, and irregular migration. The protection of Mexicans’ human rights during US immigration proceedings was also on the table.

Velasco repeated Mexico’s standard formula for the relationship. Work together, he said, on the basis of sovereignty, shared responsibility and “collaboration without subordination.”

Neither government said publicly whether the flights to Guatemala and Honduras came up directly. The timing, eight days after Mexico’s rejection, made the subject hard to avoid.

The wider deportation machine behind the story

The flights carrying Mexicans sit inside a much larger system. Human Rights First and Refugees International count more than 23,000 people transferred to 26 third countries between January 2025 and mid-August 2026.

Almost 20,000 of them were sent into Mexico, which makes Mexico the biggest receiving country of all. Mexico itself accepted about 12,000 deported foreigners in 2025, mostly Cubans and Venezuelans, according to President Claudia Sheinbaum.

That is the awkward symmetry in Mexico’s complaint. The government resists a practice directed at its own citizens while remaining central to the same system directed at others.

The human cost is climbing. At least 15 Mexican nationals have died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, since January 2025, with three more deaths during enforcement operations.

What to watch from here

The first test is whether the flights continue after Mexico’s public rejection. Deportation flights hit a record of at least 329 in July, and 128 of them went to Mexico.

The second is Mexico’s leverage. The two countries exchanged goods worth roughly US$964 billion in 2025, and migration cooperation has always been traded against other files.

The third is legal. If US courts limit third-country deportations of asylum seekers, the Guatemala and Honduras route could close as quickly as it opened.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources: CBS News (18 August 2026); Mexico’s Secretariat of Foreign Affairs statement and readout (26 August 2026); Associated Press; Prensa Libre; La Prensa; Human Rights First / Refugees International; WOLA; Al Jazeera.

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