As Trump Threatens Mass Deportations, Central America Braces for an Influx of Vulnerable Migrants

As dozens of deported migrants pack into a sweltering airport facility in San Pedro Sula, Norma sits under fluorescent lights clutching a foam cup of coffee and a small plate of eggs – all that was waiting for her in Honduras.

The 69-year-old Honduran mother had never imagined leaving her Central American country. But then came the anonymous death threats to her and her children and the armed men who showed up at her doorstep threatening to kill her, just like they had killed one of her relatives days earlier.

{snip}

But after her asylum petitions to the U.S. were rejected, they were loaded onto a deportation flight. Now, she’s back in Honduras within reach of the same gang, stuck in a cycle of violence and economic precarity that haunts deportees like her.

“They can find us in every corner of Honduras,” she said in the migrant processing facility. “We’re praying for God’s protection, because we don’t expect anything from the government.”

Now, as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office in January with a promise of carrying out mass deportations, Honduras and other Central American countries people have fled for generations are bracing for a potential influx of vulnerable migrants — a situation they are ill-prepared to handle.

‘We don’t have the capacity’
Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, which have the largest number of people living illegally in the U.S., after Mexico, could be among the first and most heavily impacted by mass deportations, said Jason Houser, former Immigration & Customs Enforcement chief of staff in the Biden administration.

Because countries like Venezuela refuse to accept deportation flights from the U.S., Houser suggests that the Trump administration may prioritize the deportation of “the most vulnerable” migrants from those countries who have removal orders but no criminal record, in an effort to rapidly increase deportation numbers.

“Hondurans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans need to be very, very nervous because (Trump officials) are going to press the bounds of the law,” said Houser.

Migrants and networks aiding deportees in those Northern Triangle countries worry their return could thrust them into even deeper economic and humanitarian crises, fueling migration down the line.

“We don’t have the capacity” to take so many people, said Antonio García, Honduras’ deputy foreign minister. “There’s very little here for deportees.” {snip}

{snip}

Since 2015, Honduras has received around half a million deportees. They climb down from planes and buses to be greeted with coffee, small plates of food and bags of toothpaste and deodorant. While some breathe a sigh of relief, free from harsh conditions in U.S. detention facilities, others cry, gripped with panic.

{snip}

Approximately 560,000 Hondurans, about 5% of the country’s population, live in the U.S. without legal status, according to U.S. government figures. Of those, migration experts estimate about 150,000 can be tracked down and rapidly expelled.

{snip}

Despite the crackdown, García estimates up to 40% of Honduran deportees make their way back to the U.S.

{snip}

Guatemala, a country with more than 750,000 citizens living unauthorized in the U.S. , announced in November it was working on a strategy to take on potential mass deportations. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Mexico is already beefing up legal services in its U.S. consulates and that she would ask Trump to deport non-Mexicans directly to their countries of origin.

Honduras’ Deputy Foreign Minister García expressed skepticism about Trump’s threat, citing the economic benefits immigrants provide to the U.S. economy and the logistical challenges of mass deportations. Aid leaders like Muñoz say Honduras isn’t sufficiently preparing for a potential surge in deportations.

{snip}