Sheinbaum is ready to receive Mexicans if Trump deports them

Alex Vasquez, Bloomberg News on Dec 19, 2024

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MEXICO CITY — Mexico is prepared to receive its nationals living in the U.S. if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his deportation pledges, but it won’t serve as a “safe third country” for migrants of other nationalities.

President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration “is prepared to work in coordination with federal, state and local authorities in the face of possible mass deportations,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement in response to questions from Bloomberg News.

Trump’s transition team has contacted the governments of Mexico and El Salvador through back channels about taking in some of the millions of undocumented migrants set to be expelled under his deportation plan, Bloomberg News reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Trump’s team and informal advisers have had detailed conversations with representatives of the two Latin American governments, in some cases via businesspeople, about taking back migrants, according to the people.

The incoming administration is seeking to prepare broad understandings so that detailed work on deportations can begin immediately after he takes office.

Trump will have the difficult task of getting countries with which the U.S. doesn’t have good relations — such as Venezuela, Nicaragua or Cuba — to receive their migrants, as many of these countries don’t generally accept deportation flights.

Mexico, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said, “will not be a safe third country” for people of other nationalities, reiterating a position it held during Trump’s first term.

In 2019, then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador balked at an agreement that would have required Central American migrants seeking refugee status to file asylum claims in Mexico rather than waiting until they reach the U.S.

“We reaffirm the responsibility and obligation of the Mexican State to our fellow citizens so that they can have the confidence that they will be received in the manner they deserve in the face of present and future challenges,” the ministry said.

As part of its preparations for Trump’s presidency, Mexico is also getting its consulates in the U.S. ready to support citizens living there, in case the mass deportations do in fact take place.

Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente — one of Sheinbaum’s close, longtime allies — has traveled to the U.S. several times in the last few weeks to fill empty consular slots and prepare a strategy of legal and consular advice for that scenario, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The Mexican government is taking Trump’s threats seriously and wants to be prepared. De la Fuente said on Wednesday from El Paso, Texas, that he’s working on a legal defense strategy for Mexicans in the U.S., as well as on a process to simplify procedures and digitize the documents they may require in case of deportations. That includes documents such as birth and marriage certificates, he said in webcast remarks to Sheinbaum’s daily news conference.

Among the reasons why Sheinbaum chose De la Fuente for this key role at the Foreign Ministry is that he measures his public statements and approaches the position in an institutional manner, said the people.

A psychiatrist by training, De la Fuente was the chief of Sheinbaum’s transition team and previously held roles such as Mexico’s ambassador to the United Nations, rector of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and chair of the board of the Aspen Institute in Mexico.

Last month, Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all goods from Mexico as soon as he’s inaugurated “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country.”

In a call between the two leaders, held in English, Sheinbaum noted the efforts Mexico is making in both areas. Trump later described the call as a “wonderful conversation.”

Mexico will look to continue showing Trump the progress it’s making to stop migrant caravans going north and reduce border crossings to the U.S. — as well as the increase in fentanyl seizures — because Sheinbaum’s administration believes Trump’s threats could diminish if he sees progress in these areas, the people added.