Donald Trump’s new migration policy has mistreated the migratory map, obliging immigrants to return to their countries. However, in this Latin American nation the numbers who have had to leave the United States are much lower than in previous years.
According to figures published by the state institution the National Migration Institute (INM) on its website, the majority of the 11,883 Honduran nationals arriving in the country up to the end of April have been due to deportation (7,248 cases), followed by regular returns (4,159) and voluntary returns (463).
The INM’s figures show the United States leads the list of countries of origin with 6,464 people, ahead of Guatemala (3,312) and Mexico (2,078).
The statistics establish that 8,188 of the deported are men, 1,619 are women, 766 girls and 1,310 boys. After taking office last January, Donald Trump threatened mass deportations but despite his administration’s new migration policy the Honduran authorities maintain that the arrival figures for compatriots are significantly lower than in previous years.
The INM’s director, Wilson Paz, underlined on Monday that the monthly average of returns is between 2,700 and 3,000 compatriots.
At this rate, he explained, it is estimated that 2025 will close with between 35,000 and 40,000 deportations, a figure well below the 58,000 cases reported in 2023 and the 88,000 registered in 2024.
Paz recalled that President Xiomara Castro’s government took office in 2022 with a high number of expelled people which was a great challenge.
Three years on, deportations have decreased for various reasons, among them the work carried out by the executive, he pointed out.
He also noted that detentions of Hondurans on the United States’ southern border have dropped considerably.
While in 2021 the North American immigration authorities captured 320,000 Hondurans, last year this figure fell to less than 100,000, a drop of around 60%, remarked Paz, who clarified that most of those intercepted were repeat offenders.
Through the “Sister, brother, come home” programme, Castro’s executive is making an immense effort to guarantee migrants’ decent and productive social and economic reinsertion. PL
(Translated by Philip Walker – Email: philipwalkertranslation@gmail.com) – Ph otos: Pixabay
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