The US is expanding its migrant deportation strategy, forging deals across Latin America to return asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants to their home countries or third-party nations.
Venezuelans are being handed over to Mexico, Central Asian families are flown to Panama and Costa Rica, and deportees from Guantanamo Bay are transferred via Honduras back to Caracas.
President Donald Trump’s administration is laying the groundwork to reverse migration flows across the region. While the numbers remain relatively modest, a clearer picture is emerging of how the US plans to manage deportations amid limited detention space.
In its first month, the Trump administration has reached agreements with Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama to serve as stopover points or final destinations for deported migrants. It has also brokered deals with Venezuela to repatriate its citizens from Texas, Guantanamo Bay, and Honduras.
However, the lack of public disclosure regarding these deals has raised concerns among human rights advocates, who fear they may circumvent international protections for asylum-seekers and refugees. Adam Isacson, a researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), suggests that many of these deals were informal “handshake agreements” rather than formally negotiated policies.
Trump previously struck deals with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador to hold asylum seekers, though only Mexico and Guatemala actually implemented them.
In his second term, the administration is taking a more aggressive approach, securing a broader range of agreements. These include Honduras facilitating Venezuelan migrant transfers, and El Salvador offering to detain deportees — including some US citizen prisoners. “They’re being much more ambitious now,” said Isacson. “The idea of sending people to be warehoused like goods, to deport them to third countries, wasn’t an issue” during Trump’s first term.
‘Shock and Awe’ to Deter Migrants
Currently, these measures are in their early stages as Congress has yet to approve a new budget. “While they’re at that lowest level of resources, they are doing all of the shock and awe possible,” Isacson explained. “The idea is to scare them.“
Migration patterns are shifting. Instead of images of migrants riding trains north through Mexico or gathering at the US border, visuals now depict deportees being transported back south. In Mexico alone, more than 3,300 foreign nationals have been deported in the past month, many carrying US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) documents.
President Claudia Sheinbaum has provided little commentary on Mexico’s role beyond expressing her administration’s commitment to cooperation. Meanwhile, the US Department of State has commended Mexico for accepting deportation flights and facilitating the return of migrants to their home countries.
Panama, a key transit country for over 500,000 migrants heading to the US in 2023, has now become a hub for deportation. This month, nearly 300 deportees from ten Asian nations were temporarily held in a Panama City hotel. Some posted signs in the windows reading “Help” and “We are not safe in our country.”
Those who refused voluntary repatriation were transferred to a remote detention camp in the jungle — the very terrain they had crossed on their journey north. One deportee at the camp said that authorities did not inform them of their rights or how long they would be held, raising concerns about poor conditions.
Similar flights landed in Costa Rica last week, where migrants were taken to a remote facility that had previously housed those traveling northward.
In addition to US-led deportation efforts, 50 to 75 migrants are now moving south through Costa Rica daily, according to Costa Rica’s Vice Minister of the Interior, Omer Badilla. He has suggested that Panama and Colombia may collaborate on organizing boat departures to further facilitate repatriation, though neither government has confirmed involvement.
Panama and Costa Rica report that United Nations agencies are assisting with the deportation and repatriation processes. The US government is covering the costs of these operations, while the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has stated it is supporting local authorities with essential services and “facilitating voluntary repatriations when it is safe to do so.”
As the Trump administration accelerates deportation efforts, the landscape of migration across the Americas is undergoing a drastic transformation. Whether these policies will achieve the intended deterrent effect remains to be seen, but for now, migrants are facing an increasingly uncertain and perilous journey south.
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