Mexico Confirms It Received About 4,000 Deportees On Trump's First Week, President Says It's Not a 'Substantial Increase'

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday the country received about 4,000 deportees from the U.S. during the first week of the Donald Trump administration, adding that the figure did not represent a "substantial increase" from previous weeks.

"If we take the weekly figure it is a number that our country has seen in other occasions," Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference. She added that four deportation flights landed in Mexico over the past days, a figure that is also not unprecedented.

Sheinbaum went on to note that there is a binational group working on migratory issues following a call between Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

"We hope this group will be widened to include other issues we consider important. On migration we have already had several meetings between CBP and Mexico's customs and migration offices," the president added.

Regarding deportations, she said that it is something that has happened with all U.S. administrations and Mexico has done for years. "What we ask for is respect for human rights," she said.

The Trump administration, on its end, said it is ramping up its operations. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reported 956 arrests on Sunday, 286 on Saturday, and 593 on Friday. By comparison, during the 2024 federal fiscal year, the agency averaged approximately 310 arrests per day.

While ICE arrests were reported nationwide, the agency announced a special focus on Chicago, where Trump border czar Tom Homan was personally overseeing enforcement efforts on Sunday.

"[ICE], along with federal partners, including the FBI, ATF, DEA, CBP and the U.S. Marshals Service, began conducting enhanced targeted operations today in Chicago to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities," the agency wrote on its website.

In an ABC News interview that aired the same day, Homan stated that Sunday's operations were only the beginning: "You're going to see the numbers steadily increase—the number of arrests nationwide—as we open up the aperture. Right now, it's concentrating on public safety threats, national security threats. That's a smaller population. So, we're going to do this on a priority basis—that's President Trump's promise. But as that aperture opens, there'll be more arrests nationwide."

As Homan targets convicted criminals during the first wave of deportation arrests, he is also preparing to expand the scope of deportations to include a much broader population.

The czar disclosed that he is currently coordinating efforts to increase ICE's bed space, infrastructure, and transportation capacity. He also stated that the agency would be working with the Department of Justice for assistance, though he did not provide specific details.