Mexico has received nearly 39,000 deportees from the United States in the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s administration, according to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
More than 33,000 of the deported immigrants were Mexican nationals, Sheinbaum said on Tuesday during her regular morning press conference.
“Since President Trump’s administration began, 38,757 have been deported [from the U.S. to Mexico], of which 33,311 are Mexicans and 5,446 are foreigners,” Sheinbaum said.
“The majority of people who are returning to Mexico are Mexicans, because the U.S. government, through the Department of State, has agreements for them to return directly to their countries,” Sheinbaum continued.
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For “humanitarian reasons,” Mexico has “decided to accept people of other nationalities, particularly those who come from the northern border” by land, the Mexican president said.
Fewer deportees of other nationalities were arriving in Mexico because the U.S. government has agreements with “practically all of those countries, and so they send the planes directly to the countries where they are citizens,” Sheinbaum said.
The Mexican president said most of the Mexicans were flown from the U.S. and that the majority of the foreigners accepted back into Mexico have since “voluntarily” chosen to return to their home countries.
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Mexican data shows that Mexico accepted approximately 52,000 deportees from the U.S. in February, March and April of last year, according to Reuters. Mexico, therefore, accepted fewer deportees from the U.S. from the start of Trump’s second term compared to the same time period last year under former President Joe Biden’s administration.
U.S.-Mexico border crossings have slowed under the Trump administration, as migrants – deterred by Trump’s promised border crackdown and mass deportation plans – have increasingly abandoned their journeys north through Mexico and returned home, according to Reuters.
Anticipating a potential influx of people earlier this year, the Mexican government in January began building large encampments in Ciudad Juárez capable of housing thousands of people, city official Enrique Licon previously told Reuters.
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“It’s unprecedented,” Licon said Tuesday of Mexico’s plan to build shelter and reception centers in nine cities south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Mexican government also organized fleets of buses intended to transport Mexican nationals from reception centers back to their hometowns.
Sheinbaum has consistently affirmed the country’s commitment to receiving and supporting its returned nationals, saying that “Mexican migrants are not criminals.”
Sheinbaum’s administration has also launched the “México te abraza,” or “Mexico embraces you,” initiative to offer deportees financial assistance, healthcare access and transportation. In addition, Mexico has been creating thousands of jobs aimed at reintegrating migrants into the workforce, according to local outlets.
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo and Reuters contributed to this report.
