Central American Officials Insist They Don’t Have Capacity To Take Back Deported Migrants

As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to implement his historic deportation program, officials in Central America are already expressing concerns about their “capacity” to handle the massive influx of nationals expected to be deported from the United States. Trump, who has vowed to deport the majority of the estimated 11 million to 22 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, is moving forward with plans that could send hundreds of thousands of Hondurans, Guatemalans, and Salvadorans back to their home countries. As these same countries claim they “don’t have the capacity” to accept their own citizens, they ignore that despite years of lax enforcement of immigration laws, the United States doesn’t have the capacity either.

Central American officials, including Antonio García, Honduras’ deputy foreign minister, have openly stated that their nations lack the resources to handle the sudden return of large numbers of deportees. “We don’t have the capacity,” García said, adding that “there’s very little here for deportees.” According to some estimates, Honduras alone could see about 150,000 of its citizens deported in the early stages of Trump’s plan.

There’s a strong sense of irony in their complaints. While Central American nations gripe about their inability to accept their own citizens, the United States is facing a very real challenge in managing the millions of illegal immigrants already residing in its own borders. Illegal immigration has put a vast strain on public resources — especially under Democratic governance that often incentivizes illegal immigration under the guise of sanctuary states and cities.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, nearly 8 million migrants have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in fewer than four years. A congressional report found that approximately 85 percent of those migrants were released into the U.S. interior, overwhelming an already strained immigration system. For countries like Honduras and Guatemala to complain about their “capacity” to take back their own nationals, while the U.S. grapples with an immigration system teetering on the brink of collapse, feels almost absurd.

The U.S. currently hosts one of the largest populations of illegal immigrants in the world, with an estimated 11 million to 22 million people living in the country without legal status. That number includes people from all over the globe, but Central Americans are among the largest groups. According to U.S. government figures, there are approximately 560,000 Hondurans living illegally in the U.S., making up about 5 percent of the country’s population. For comparison, if the U.S. were to deport these Hondurans, it would be like the entire state of Wisconsin suddenly disappearing from the country.

It’s worth questioning why the burden of accepting millions of illegal immigrants is often placed squarely on the United States, especially when other countries claim they “can’t handle” the return of their own nationals. If nations like Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador argue that they lack the capacity to absorb their citizens, shouldn’t the international community be more proactive in thwarting illegal immigration in the first place? Rather than relying on the U.S. to bear the lion’s share of the responsibility for managing illegal immigration, foreign governments should do more to discourage their citizens from breaching American borders. The expectation that the U.S. should take in millions of illegal migrants, while other countries appear reluctant to take back their own, points to a deep imbalance.

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