ICE agents look on as detainees board a plane at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Feb. 24, 2026. Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Nearly 2,300 Mexican nationals deported from the United States had been sent to Guatemala before being transferred to Mexico, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said on Aug. 19.
Speaking in a news conference, Arevalo said his country received 2,284 Mexican deportees from the United States this year, who were subsequently repatriated.
“They are arriving on planes carrying Guatemalan returnees, and what we have done is bring them in transit so that, in coordination with Mexican immigration authorities, we can return them to Mexican territory within 24 hours of their arrival in the country,” he said.
He said the costs of the operation were covered by either the Mexican or U.S. government.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that it was “utilizing all lawful options” to carry out President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts targeting illegal immigrants.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said it opposed the transfer of Mexican nationals to third countries and was working with the relevant countries to facilitate their safe return.
“The Mexican government has expressed its opposition to this practice to U.S. authorities and has reiterated that every Mexican citizen has the right to enter the country,” the ministry said in a statement to media outlets.
The Epoch Times reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for further comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Deportees are generally sent back to their home countries unless their governments refuse to accept them or they are granted protection from removal to that country because of safety risks.
In February, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy ruled that the administration’s policy of sending deportees to third countries was unlawful.
The ruling stemmed from a case involving a group of illegal immigrants that the government tried to deport to third countries in March 2025.
Murphy said federal regulations required that illegal immigrants be deported to either their home country or another country as designated by an immigration judge. They should also be given the right to “raise a country-specific claim” against being deported to a third country, he said.
Murphy’s ruling concerned two Department of Homeland Security memos, which said that if the United States had diplomatic assurances from a third country that deportees would not face persecution or torture, they could be sent there without any extra procedures.
The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit subsequently paused the lower court’s ruling in March, allowing the administration to continue deporting illegal immigrants to third countries while the case proceeds.
Stacy Robinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
