The Mexican government is open to the possibility of receiving returned non-Mexican migrants, as the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, has promised.
Mexico has opened the possibility of receiving non-Mexican migrants who are deported by the next Donald Trump administration with certain conditions, among which it could be accepting only certain nationalities or receiving financial support in exchange to return them from Mexico to their countries.
“We are not in favor of these deportations but if they happen… we are going to receive the Mexicans who arrive in our country and we are going to ask the United States that, to the extent possible, migrants who are not from Mexico can take them to their countries of origin and, if not, we can collaborate through different mechanisms,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday.
“There will be time to talk to the United States government if these deportations really occur, but we are going to receive them here, we are going to receive them well and we have a plan,” he added.
The mass deportations announced by Trump are fundamentally worrying in northern Mexico, areas of great organized crime activity and where many non-Mexican migrants could accumulate.
That is what happened during the previous Trump administration (2017-2021), when thousands of asylum seekers were returned to await the resolution of their cases in Mexico and thousands more who crossed irregularly and were returned to Mexico due to an internal rule of American public health launched during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sheinbaum has insisted that Mexico is a country of solidarity and that Washington must find a way to ensure the repatriation of other nationalities to their countries of origin with “the necessary resources.”
“And well, always look for the best way to contribute to it,” he added at the end of December without clarifying whether he was referring to the possibility that Mexico would support these returns if it received funds for it or in some other way.
In fact, the returns of foreigners in an irregular situation from Mexico came to a temporary halt in December 2023 due to lack of funds and were substantially reduced during 2024, with only 16,500 returns from January to August (there is no subsequent official data) compared to 53,000. of 2023 and more than 120,000 the previous year.
The response to Trump's possible deportations will undoubtedly be one of the central topics of the meeting of foreign ministers of countries of origin and transit of migration that Mexico wants to hold in January, an event that will give continuity to the summit held in Palenque, in southern Mexico, in 2023.
Last week, Mexico announced a broad plan of legal support for its citizens through the Mexican consulates in the United States in response to Trump's plans, and at the annual meeting each January of the government with the entire Mexican foreign service, the president will make a special appeal to the consuls in the United States. “I want to ask you for all your dedication,” he stated.
When asked on Friday about specific plans to avoid family separation, Sheinbaum did not offer details but indicated that “in due course we will speak with President Trump's administration to establish mechanisms.”