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Mexico President Announces 11 Repatriation Centers to Receive Deported Nationals

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration that will affect the US-Mexico border.

Nicolás Ríos

Jan 21, 2025

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum at a press conference in Mexico City, Jan. 21, 2025. (Photo by Nicolás Rios)

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Calling Mexican nationals residing in the United States “heroes of our nation,” Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration that will affect the US-Mexico border.

Documented attended Sheinbaum’s press conference held hours after Trump signed 10 immigration-centric executive orders.

“We are in communications with the U.S. Secretary of State. We hope to meet today or tomorrow. I have asked our Secretary of Foreign affairs to tell the U.S. that the best way to face this is to understand the causes of immigration: that people are in need,” Sheinbaum said. 

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Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum at a press conference in Mexico City, Jan. 21, 2025. (Photo by Nicolás Rios)

The government of Mexico announced 11 “repatriation centers” where Mexican nationals will be received after being deported from the United States. There, they will be given around $100 USD, will receive a national ID and be registered in all eligible public services. 

Present at the press conference, Secretary of Government Rosa Icela Rodríguez, who will be in charge of the operation to receive deported Mexican citizens, added that “we are ready to receive those Mexican nationals that will come back.”

Rodriguez also announced 100 buses to take deported Mexican immigrants to these centers and onwards to the home states of deported nationals. 

To support Mexican nationals in the U.S., the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, announced that the government now has more than 2,600 people distributed in consulates in the U.S. In his presentation at Palacio Nacional of Mexico City, he stated that there are contractor agreements with 325 legal offices in the United States. 

“I want to repeat our message to Mexican nationals: “You are not alone. You will not be alone,” De la Fuente said.

Sheinbaum was asked about the potential of non-Mexican immigrants who could be deported from the United States to Mexico, or those who are currently stranded after the sunsetting of the CBP One app used for scheduling immigration appointments. Sheinbaum used a chart to demonstrate that encounters at the US-Mexico border are at lower levels than before, and she announced that the plan is to arrange voluntary repatriation operations so that those citizens can get back to their countries of origin.

“If they are on Mexican soil, we will give them support on humanitarian grounds. But we will seek to return them to their countries of origin.” She added that in upcoming talks with the United States they will have a discussion on who would pay for the return of non-Mexican nationals deported to Mexico.

“We have agreements with the Guatemalan government and most Central American countries. With Cuba also,” she added. When asked if non-Mexicans can enter the repatriation centers, Sheinbaum explained that three shelters will be designated for non-Mexica nationals.

“We will give them humanitarian support, seek their return to their countries and, in some cases, their integration to Mexican society.”

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