By Kylie Madry and Ted Hesson
MEXICO CITY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Mexico is seeking an agreement with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to ensure it does not receive deportees from third countries in case of large-scale deportations of migrants from the United States, President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday.
The Bahamas rejected taking third-country deportees if Trump carries out his promised vast crackdown on immigrants in the U.S. illegally after he comes to office on Jan. 20. Trump’s incoming vice president, JD Vance, has floated the possibility of deporting 1 million people a year.
The Trump transition team has discussed deporting migrants to places other than their home country if those nations will not accept them, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The possible destinations could include Panama, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, and Grenada, one of the sources said, confirming an NBC News report. In late October, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told Reuters that Mexico could be an option.
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mexico is looking to strike a deal with Trump, Sheinbaum told a press conference.
“We hope to reach an agreement with the Trump administration so that, in case these deportations happen, they send people from other countries directly to their countries of origin,” she said. Sheinbaum did not outright say that her government would refuse migrants from other countries.
NBC had reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Trump could use the threat of slapping Mexico with tariffs to get the Latin American country to comply.
Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis, meanwhile, said the Caribbean nation’s government had received and “firmly rejected” the request.
Panama’s government denied having received any sort of “official communication” so far, but said in a statement that it was not obligated to take third-country deportees.
The governments of Turks and Caicos and Grenada did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
MEXICO’S ROLE
Mexico has played a key role in implementing U.S. immigration policy in recent years, accepting migrants from countries to which the U.S. struggles to deport people, such as Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
At the same time, U.S. government estimates suggest nearly half of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally are Mexican.
Mexican officials are bracing for the arrival of large numbers of Mexicans deported from the U.S. once Trump takes office in January, though Sheinbaum has argued the deportations are unnecessary, pointing to the contribution of Mexicans to the U.S. economy.
Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente is currently in the United States, and on Thursday visited an Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Dallas to meet with migration officials and Mexican migrants who were being deported under the Biden administration.
Asked whether Mexico would receive foreign nationals, de la Fuente said: “We will receive nationals from Mexico.”
He noted his government was working on a “fruitful dialogue” with the United States and strengthening support and consular services for Mexicans living there.
“You are not alone,” he said.
(Reporting by Kylie Madry in Mexico City and Ted Hesson in Washington; Additional reporting by Elida Moreno in Panama City, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Editing by Alistair Bell)
