Mexican President Expands Construction of Migrant Shelters as U.S. Deportations Along Southern Border Increase

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced the expansion of migrant shelters as U.S. Customs and Border Protection ramps up deportations at the southern border.

Looking to aid migrants upon their return, Mexican Secretary of Interior Rosa Icela Rodríguez outlined the "México te abraza" (Mexico hugs you) program, which includes opening ten support centers in border cities to provide services such as transportation, food, and hygiene facilities. "We are ready and coordinated to receive our compatriots with warmth and humanity," Rodriguez said.

The centers will be located in Tijuana and Mexicali, in the state of Baja California; in Nogales and San Luis Río Colorado, in Sonora; in Ciudad Juárez, in Chihuahua; in Nueva Rosita, in Coahuila; in El Carmen, in Nuevo León; and in Matamoros, Reynosa, and Nuevo Laredo, in Tamaulipas.

Border Report detailed that deportations at the Paso del Norte bridge in El Paso reached 90 individuals on Wednesday, more than double the usual figure in the area. While many Mexican nationals were released upon arrival, third-country migrants from places like Ecuador or El Salvador were transported to a federal shelter in Juárez under National Guard supervision.

Border Report also cited Nogales, Sonora Mayor Gim, who said U.S. authorities have been deporting about 100 individuals per day from Nogales, Arizona, primarily Mexican citizens.

Local authorities in several Mexican border cities have been preparing additional shelter spaces themselves in the meantime. Mayor Gim told the outlet he has established three temporary shelters to hold up to 3,000 migrants, while in Hermosillo, Sonora, the "Ana Gabriela Guevara" gymnasium has been equipped to house up to 1,500 migrants, according to USA Today.

Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila reported that a shelter near the San Ysidro port of entry has capacity for 2,600 individuals and is equipped with medical and government service modules. In Ciudad Juárez, Mayor Cruz Pérez Cuéllar confirmed that El Punto, a tent facility with space for 2,500 migrants, is also operational.

Sheinbaum has downplayed the situation, saying this week she hadn't yet noticed "a significant increase" in deportations since Trump took office. Mexico received 4,094 deported individuals in the first week of Trump's second term, while data from Mexico's Unidad de Política Migratoria shows that in 2024, under President Biden, an average of 3,663 people were deported per week.

"This is not new for Mexico," said Sheinbaum on Monday. "Mexico has a significant history of repatriation in its relationship with the United States. Past presidents have dealt with it, and so has President López Obrador—first with the Trump administration and later with the Biden administration."