US deports nearly 2,300 Mexicans to Guatemala over Mexico’s objections

What the report says

The United States has sent about 2,300 Mexican nationals to Guatemala this year, despite objections from Mexico, according to Al Jazeera’s report published on 21 August 2026. Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said his government had received the deportees on flights carrying people identified as Guatemalan returnees, and that they were being moved on to Mexico within 24 hours in coordination with Mexican authorities.

The article says the removals are part of a wider Trump administration push to expand deportations to third countries as part of its immigration crackdown. US officials have defended the practice as a lawful way to deter repeat crossings and to carry out what President Donald Trump has described as the largest deportation campaign in US history. Mexican officials, however, said they opposed sending their citizens to other countries and reiterated that Mexican nationals have the right to enter Mexico.

Al Jazeera reports that some Mexican deportees have also been sent to Honduras, underscoring concerns about the administration’s use of third-country transfers. Rights advocates quoted in the piece described the approach as coercive and harmful, while Mexico’s migration authorities said Washington’s aim was to discourage return migration. The issue adds strain to an already sensitive bilateral relationship: the US and Mexico remain major trade partners, but immigration enforcement has become a growing point of tension under Trump’s return to office.