Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Says Country Is 'Open' To Receiving Migrants Deported By The U.S.

With President-elect Donald Trump poised to take office in a matter of days, administrations in Latin America continue discussing plans that would respond to Trump's promise of carrying out "the largest deportation operation in American history."

Deporting millions of undocumented migrants will not be easy, that is why the Trump administration is working with other governments in Latin America to ease the economic impact of its deportation plans. Several countries have already declined taking deportees from third countries, including El Salvador, Panama and the Bahamas while others like Guatemala have agreed.

But according to latest reports, Mexico would be open to the possibility to do so after initially pushing back on Trump's wishes. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her Jan. 3 press conference that Mexico is willing to collaborate "through different mechanisms" although she did not offer details on how they plan to do so.

"There will be time to speak with the United States government if these deportations really happen, but we will receive them here, we are going to receive them properly and we have a plan," she said.

Amid logistic and economic challenges, Mexico could limit its collaboration to certain nationalities or request compensation from the U.S. to return deportees from Mexico to their home countries.

Last month, Sheinbaum hoped to reach an agreement with Trump so that the U.S. sends people to their countries of origin without Mexico being in the middle, as accepting Trump's request would include considerable numbers of Haitian, Cuban and Venezuelan migrants.

Between 2022 and 2023, Mexico agreed to accept up to 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela as the U.S. has complications deporting those nationals back to their home countries due to diplomatic and political differences.

But as Mexico continues to house more and more migrants, this would pose a monetary burden for the Sheinbaum administration as they would have to also deal with the estimated four million Mexicans that currently live in the U.S. without proper documentation.

Trump's mass deportations would impact Mexico's economy

According to Ismael Plascencia López, an economist with the Northwest Mexico Federation of Economists, the cost for Mexico will be a large one.

López argues that Mexico would carry the burden of feeding, housing and transporting deportees. "It's going to be a blow just in terms of the number of people sent here, but what about all those countries that refuse to take in their own people, they will likely end up in Mexico, you have to care for them as well," he told the outlet.

In order to reduce the potential cost of housing millions of non-nationals, Sheinbaum said that Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente is already "speaking" to other countries whose residents cross Mexico in order to get to the U.S.

Similarly, she has proposed a meeting with other Latin American and Caribbean foreign ministers in January to address the incoming challenges that Trump's mass deportation plan would create.

Sheinbaum discussed the proposal with Honduran counterpart Xiomara Castro, who currently leads the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (ECLAC), emphasizing the need for cooperation among Latin American nations to address migration by tackling its root causes, namely poor economic and social landscapes across the region.

She reiterated Mexico's commitment to solidarity with its neighbors despite domestic criticism. "We will always support those in need, as this aligns with our foreign policy and the humanistic principles we uphold," Sheinbaum said.

But even if Trump gets the support of Latin American countries, the American Immigration Council estimates that it would cost Americans billions of dollars to carry out mass deportations.

The organization says that a one-time mass deportation operation —including the 11 million undocumented migrants currently living in the U.S. and the 2.3 million people who have crossed without legal status and were released by the Department of Homeland Security between January 2023 and April 2024— would carry an estimated cost of at least $315 billion.