U.S. immigration authorities are deporting people from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America to third countries, where they face unfamiliar surroundings and uncertain next steps.
Sergio Perez, a Mexico City native, said he spent more than a year in U.S. immigration detention centers before being deported to Guatemala, south of Mexico's border, rather than being returned to his home country.
"You get put on the plane, and then from the plane they just take you all the way down to the other border of the country so you can't just come back," said Perez.
Perez laughed as he described the route. For him, the detour made deportation feel punitive rather than practical.
Third-country removals send people to countries other than their own. Third Country Deportation Watch, a project of Human Rights First and Refugees International, says that since January 2025, the United States has reached transfer agreements with at least 35 countries and sent more than 23,000 people to 26 different countries.
Last month, Mexico's Foreign Ministry said in a written statement that it accepts the return of all Mexican nationals and rejects their deportation to third countries. Yet the monitoring project documents the transfer of Mexican nationals to several third countries, including Guatemala and Honduras.
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said Mexicans sent to Guatemala arrive on flights carrying Guatemalan deportees and are transferred to Mexico within 24 hours, adding a final cross-border leg to the return journey of deported Mexican nationals.
For Freddy Ochoa, a Honduran migrant from San Pedro Sula, the concern is not only the distance from home but also the unfamiliar and sometimes dangerous conditions awaiting people at their destination.
"There's a lot of crime. It's particularly difficult for young people; you can be robbed, kidnapped or assaulted. Even I'm scared when I go back to Honduras," said Ochoa.
Edwin Hernandez, a Mexican deportee, said removal to another Latin American country would still be less daunting than being sent to Africa, where deportees may not speak the local language.
"If they send you to Latin America, at least they speak Spanish. Other Latino migrants are being sent to Africa, where they don't even speak the same language. Imagine how difficult that is," said Hernandez.
The prospect becomes still more disorienting when the destination is on another continent, Ochoa said. He said a former cellmate in U.S. immigration detention was deported to the Central African Republic and had since posted online appeals for help from Bangui, the country's capital.
"What can you do as a Latino if you get deported to Africa with no documents or belongings whatsoever? It seems like they do it out of spite. I can't think of any other reason," said Ochoa.
Hernandez said people held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had little control over where they were sent.
"There's nothing you can do. ICE will detain you as long as they want and do whatever they want to you. They have immunity," said Hernandez.
ICE says it principally removes non-citizens after they receive final removal orders. U.N. experts have warned that third-country removals should include individual risk assessments and safeguards for people seeking protection.
US third-country deportations leave migrants far from home
