The United States sent 2,284 Mexican deportees through Guatemala in 2026, and Guatemalan authorities returned them to Mexico within 24 hours, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo said late on August 19. He described their stay as transit rather than admission to Guatemala as refugees or asylum seekers.

Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on August 20 that it had told US authorities it opposed the practice and was working to secure the safe return of Mexican nationals sent to Central America. The ministry said every Mexican citizen has the right to enter Mexico.

Luggage and flight-information displays in an airport departure hall (illustrative image)
Flights and onward ground transport are separate stages of the transfers described by Guatemala. (Illustrative image) Photo by Marco López on Unsplash

Guatemala describes a transit operation

Arévalo said the Mexican nationals arrived on flights carrying Guatemalans returned from the United States and did not remain in Guatemala. He rejected characterizing the operation as a “safe third country” arrangement and said either Mexico or the United States covered the costs, depending on the case.

Mexico's immigration authority confirmed to the Associated Press that the transfers had taken place mainly since April. It said officials moved the deportees by bus into southern Mexico after their arrival in Guatemala or Honduras, but it supplied no figures.

Arévalo called the onward movement an arrangement coordinated with Mexican immigration officials. Mexico, however, said it had no agreement under which the United States could deport Mexican nationals to third countries, leaving the public descriptions of the route's legal and operational basis incomplete.

Honduran records document three August flights

The Associated Press reported that Honduran government documents listed 82 Mexican deportees arriving in San Pedro Sula on two flights on August 13 and 15. The news agency reported that 35 more arrived on August 20, bringing the documented August arrivals across those three flights to 117.

That figure is not a complete Honduras total. Honduran authorities did not respond to the Associated Press's requests for comment, and a Reuters report said the foreign ministries of Mexico and Honduras had not immediately answered its questions about the arrangement.

Third Country Deportation Watch, a project run by Human Rights First and Refugees International, estimated that another 165 Mexicans were sent to Honduras between May and mid-July. The Associated Press said the tracker did not identify the source of its nationality figures, so APPI News has not added that estimate to the confirmed flight count.

US officials cite deterrence but publish few details

Two US Department of Homeland Security officials told CBS News that one objective was to move deportees farther from the US-Mexico border and deter another attempted entry. The officials requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, and they said the transfers had continued for months without a formal US government announcement.

The US Department of Homeland Security said in responses to CBS News and the Associated Press that the Trump administration was using lawful options to carry out its deportation program. Its replies did not identify the terms of an agreement governing these transfers or explain the case-level basis for routing individual Mexican nationals through Central America.

In this case, third-country deportation refers to the United States removing people to a country other than their country of nationality. The label describes the route, but it does not establish whether a person sought asylum, received protection from return to Mexico or went through the same legal procedure as others on a flight.

Mexico rejects the route while coordinating returns

Mexico told CBS News that it accepts the return of all its nationals, rejects their deportation to third countries and has no agreement for that practice. At the same time, its foreign affairs ministry said Mexico was coordinating with countries in the region to bring the deportees home safely.

The two statements may refer to different stages: US removal to Central America and the later transfer from Central America into Mexico. APPI News could not find a published agreement clarifying which governments selected the route, how people were chosen for it or how costs and legal responsibilities were allocated.

The published counts remain partial

Guatemala's 2,284 figure covers transit during 2026 through Arévalo's August 19 statement. The Honduras figure covers three flights in August, while neither Honduran authorities nor the US government had released a consolidated list of transfers at the time of writing.

The figures therefore document a change in the route used for some Mexican deportees, not a complete regional total. Public reporting also lacks individual case records that would show whether the people on each flight had requested asylum or faced restrictions on direct return to Mexico.