Mexico’s president will ask Trump to deport non-Mexican migrants directly to their home countries

MEXICO CITY —  Mexico’s president said Thursday that she will ask President-elect Donald Trump to deport non-Mexican migrants directly to their home countries, rather than dumping them at the Mexican border.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said she hopes to reach an agreement with Trump so that “they send people who come from other countries to their countries of origin.”

Mexico, like any other country, is not obligated to accept non-Mexican migrants, but it has agreed to do so in the recent past, especially from countries such as Cuba and Venezuela, which often refuse deportation flights from the United States but may accept them from Mexico.

Mexican officials have said they are making preparations if Trump follows through on his pledge once he takes office on Jan. 20 to carry out large-scale deportations of migrants living in the U.S. without documentation.

Mexico is fearful of two things: large-scale deportations of Mexican citizens and large numbers of non-Mexicans being deported at border crossings that are ill-equipped to deal with them.

Experts estimate there are 4 million Mexicans living in the U.S. illegally. Mexico is preparing its consular services in the U.S. with additional staffing to handle deportation cases involving its citizens.

But third-country deported migrants pose a thornier challenge, and could include considerable numbers of Haitians, Cubans and Venezuelans.

Between 2022 and 2023, Mexico agreed to accept up to 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, countries to which it is difficult to deport from the United States for diplomatic or political reasons. That agreement remains in place.

In late 2023, Venezuela said Mexico had repatriated about 300 Venezuelan migrants on two flights.

Such returns pose a monetary burden for the Mexican government. Mexico had offered some of the repatriated Venezuelans a stipend of about $110 per month for six months to help them reestablish themselves in their home countries.

However, the task of finding jobs, shelter and transportation for deported Mexicans would present an even greater challenge for Mexico.

Migration has long been a sensitive issue between the two countries, and has become even more urgent after Trump’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on Mexican goods unless the country does more to stem the flow of migrants and drugs.

In November, Trump claimed that Sheinbaum had “agreed to stop migration through Mexico” after a phone call between the two leaders. Sheinbaum, meanwhile, suggested Mexico was already doing its part and had no interest in closing its borders.

“We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples,” Sheinbaum said at the time.