By Kylie Madry and Ted Hesson
MEXICO CITY -Mexico is seeking an agreement with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to ensure Mexico does not receive deportees from third countries in case of large-scale deportations from the United States, President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday.
Trump has promised a vast crackdown on immigrants living illegally in the United States, and his running mate JD Vance has floated deporting 1 million people a year.
Mexico has played a key role in implementing U.S. immigration policy in recent years, accepting migrants from countries to which the U.S. struggles to deport people, such as Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
The Trump transition team has discussed deporting migrants to places other than their home country if those nations will not accept them, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The possible destinations could include Panama, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, and Grenada, one of the sources said, confirming an NBC News report.
The Bahamas said in a statement on Thursday it had received such a request but that it had been “reviewed and firmly rejected.”
The governments of Turks and Caicos, Panama and Grenada did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In late October, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told Reuters that sending migrants to other countries, including Mexico, would be an option.
The Trump transition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sheinbaum did not say outright that Mexico would refuse migrants from other countries but did say her government would look to avoid it.
“We hope to reach an agreement with the Trump administration so that, in case these deportations happen, they send people from other countries directly to their countries of origin,” Sheinbaum told a press conference.
The president said Mexico was “in solidarity with everyone, but our main purpose is to receive Mexicans.”
U.S. government estimates suggest nearly half of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally are Mexican.
Mexican officials are bracing for the arrival of large numbers of Mexicans deported from the U.S. once Trump takes office in January though Sheinbaum has argued the deportations are unnecessary, pointing to the contribution made by Mexican migrants to the U.S. economy.
Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente is currently in the United States. He is set to tour an Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center “to see firsthand the processes which should guarantee conditions and respect for the human rights of Mexicans being returned,” the foreign ministry said.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
