Mexico has received non-Mexican deportees from the United States over the past week, President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday (January 27), reversing her previous opposition to doing so.
Sheinbaum said that Mexico had accepted over 4,000 deportees, of which a “large majority” were Mexican.
U.S. President Donald Trump took office last week, promising massive deportations of migrants who were in the U.S. illegally.
But in the days since, there has not yet been a “substantial” increase in deportees received by Mexico, Sheinbaum said.
The leftist leader had previously said that her administration had not agreed to the restart of the “Remain in Mexico” program by the Trump administration, which would send non-Mexican migrants back to Mexico while they awaited processing by the United States.
Sheinbaum said that deportations received from the U.S. had included people sent on four flights using civil aircraft. Reuters reported on Friday, citing a U.S. and Mexican official, that Mexico had refused a deportation flight operated by the U.S. military.
Such deportation flights have also caused an outcry from Brazil and Colombia in recent days. Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Trump tussled on Sunday, nearly bringing the countries to the brink of a trade war over Petro’s refusal to accept U.S. military deportation flights. Petro later agreed to accept the flights.
