The United States has sent about 2,300 Mexicans to Guatemala despite the Mexican government’s objections as President Donald Trump ramps up deportations.
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo acknowledged Wednesday that Guatemala has accepted approximately 2,284 Mexicans deported from the United States this year.
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“They are arriving on planes carrying Guatemalan returnees,” Arevalo said at a news conference.
“What we have done, in coordination with the Mexican government, is to allow them to pass through in transit and be returned to Mexican territory within 24 hours of their arrival in the country.”
The expulsions are part of a growing trend of third-country expulsions under the Trump administration, sending immigrants and asylum seekers from the United States to unaffiliated countries.
The Trump administration primarily justifies such deportations by saying that the immigrants in question cannot return to their home countries.
But this is not the case with Mexico, which has consistently accepted deportations from the United States.
Critics charge that forced relocation from third countries is a form of punishment, effectively stranding migrants and asylum seekers far from their homelands.
Arevalo said Mexicans sent to Guatemala would be quickly repatriated, with the Mexican or U.S. government paying for them.
But Mexican officials expressed concern about the United States sending its nationals to a third country.
“The Mexican government has expressed its opposition to this practice to the U.S. authorities and reiterated that all Mexican citizens have the right to enter the country,” Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday.
After talks with Guatemalan officials on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry also said the two countries are united by shared values, including common security and “dignified movement of human beings.”
Guatemala is not the only country that has taken in Mexicans from the United States in recent months. There are also reports that some Mexican nationals have also been deported to Honduras.
“They didn’t tell us anything, they just wanted us to get on the plane,” Arturo Trejo, a Mexican man who was deported to Honduras, told Telemundo television station.
Mexico’s National Migration Institute (INM) told The Associated Press that the United States justifies the practice as a form of deterrence.
“The reason is that the United States wants to prevent them from returning to its territory,” INM said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in response to inquiries about the practice: “As promised by President Trump, we are using all lawful means to carry out the largest deportation operation in history.”
However, many human rights experts view the expulsion of Mexicans to third countries as an intimidation tactic.
“What we are seeing seems to be part of a broader trend towards very harsh U.S. immigration policies that seek to instill fear and terror in immigrants at all costs,” Ana Maria Mendez, Central America director for immigrant rights group WOLA, told news agency Reuters.
The United States and Mexico are neighboring countries and have enjoyed a close relationship for many years. The two countries remain each other’s top trading partners, with cross-border exchanges valued at 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.
It has worked to cooperate with the Trump administration on immigration issues while protecting the rights of its citizens from alleged human rights abuses.
Critics have accused immigration officials of using excessive force during raids, and experts say the number of people dying in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody is increasing.
At least 15 Mexicans have died in ICE custody since President Trump returned to office, and three more have died during executions.
In response, the Mexican government filed a complaint with U.S. state prosecutors. He also denounced conditions in ICE detention centers as “not meeting human rights standards” and urged regular visits from Mexican consular officials.
