Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez speaks during a press conference this Friday at the National Palace in Mexico City (Mexico). EFE/José Méndez
Mexico City, Aug 21 (EFE) – The Mexican government expressed its rejection to the United States of sending deported Mexican citizens to third countries before returning them to Mexico, a practice that this year has led to some 2,300 Mexican nationals being sent to Guatemala, Interior Secretary Rosa Icela Rodríguez revealed this Friday.
The official explained that she raised the issue on Thursday during a meeting with the US ambassador to Mexico, Ronald Johnson, whom she asked to maintain the mechanisms so that expelled Mexicans can be received directly by their country.
“We want to make it clear that we respect the decisions other countries make regarding immigration policy, but we do not agree that our citizens should be transferred to a third country before arriving in Mexico, since we are receiving them directly and with an agreement we have with them,” Rodríguez stated.
The secretary explained that Washington is sending Mexicans to Guatemala, Honduras, and also Costa Rica before their return to the country.
“If there is an agreement, let’s stick to that agreement; we don’t need them to be sent to a third country,” he said during the government’s morning press conference, which he led this Friday in place of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who was absent due to a severe case of the flu.
Rodríguez stated that the proposal was made in a “respectful, but firm, manner, to tell them that we do not agree with that decision.”
Approximately 2,300 Mexicans were sent to Guatemala
The complaint comes after Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo confirmed this week that the United States has deported around 2,300 Mexicans to his country so far in 2026, a sharp increase compared to the mere 15 recorded during all of 2025.
Mexicans arrive on US flights along with deported Guatemalan citizens and remain in the Central American country for less than 24 hours before continuing overland to Mexico.
Arévalo has pointed out that Guatemala does not function as a “safe third country” in these cases, since Mexicans are only in transit.
The United States has also sent Mexican citizens to Honduras this year, as part of a policy of deportations to third countries that the Trump Administration has expanded since its return to the White House.
Rodríguez also highlighted the reduction in irregular migration to the United States, both from foreigners and Mexicans, which he estimated at 96%.
The Sheinbaum government had previously reported a 97.5% drop in migrant encounters recorded by US authorities at the border, from 305,608 in December 2023 to 5,433 last May.
The Interior Minister also assured that there is daily coordination between the authorities of both countries on migration, security and trade matters, and highlighted that the National Migration Institute (INM) maintains daily contact with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Despite the disagreement over deportations to third countries, Rodríguez described the bilateral relationship as “cordial” and “respectful”.
