Mexico is seeking an agreement with US 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 US illegally after he comes to office on January 20. Trump’s incoming vice-president, J.D. 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.
US president-elect Donald Trump. Photo: Getty Images / TNS
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 tsar 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.
