By Sofia Menchu and Sarah Morland
GUATEMALA CITY, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Guatemala has received around 2,300 Mexicans deported from the United States so far this year, according to the Guatemalan government, offering fresh details on a Trump administration practice intended to deter migration but opposed by Mexico.
“They are arriving in planes of Guatemalan returnees,” Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said in a televised interview late on Wednesday.
He said the deported Mexicans were transferred to their home country within 24 hours, with transportation costs covered by Mexico or the U.S.
Mexico’s foreign ministry said in a statement it opposed the practice and was working to repatriate citizens deported to Central America, without specifying the number of cases or costs.
“The government of Mexico has informed the U.S. authorities of its rejection of this practice,” the ministry said.
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Under international accords, deportees are usually sent directly to their country of citizenship. Migrants may be sent to third countries if their home country rejects them or if the conditions are unsafe.
But under U.S. President Donald Trump’s migration crackdown, more migrants are being deported to third countries, sometimes under bilateral agreements. Mexico has usually accepted U.S. deportees directly.
Immigration experts said routing Mexicans through Guatemala or other countries may be intended to make illegal reentry to the U.S. more difficult by moving them farther from the U.S.-Mexico border.
While the U.S. has historically prioritized deporting Mexicans by land to northern Mexico, Savi Arvey, director of policy at Human Rights First, said the U.S. has since May “systematically” deported Mexicans to Honduras and Guatemala.
Human Rights First said it had confirmed the deportation of about 200 Mexicans to Honduras.
‘JUST GET ON THE FLIGHT’
The Honduran government’s Attention to Returned Migrants Center told Reuters the center had not received deported Mexican citizens and its foreign ministry said it had no information on the matter.
Deportee Arturo Trejo, in an interview with U.S. Spanish-language TV channel Telemundo from his Mexican hometown, said he was among dozens of Mexicans flown from the U.S. to Honduras before being returned to Mexico.
“They didn’t tell us anything, just to get on the flight,” Trejo said.
Ana Maria Mendez, Central America director at migrants rights group WOLA, said the rerouting tactic left migrants uncertain of their destination and whether their rights would be protected.
She pointed to similar reports of Nicaraguans being deported to Honduras.
“What we are seeing seems part of broader trend towards a very severe U.S. migration policy where they seek to instill terror and fear in migrants at all costs,” she said.
(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez and Sarah Morland in Mexico City, Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City and Laura Garcia in Tegucigalpa, Editing by Daina Beth Solomon, Rod Nickel and Cynthia Osterman)
