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Description of the Event
Approximate date of impact Deportations of Hondurans from the U.S. and Mexico are expected to rise significantly between March and June 2025. Changes in U.S. immigration policies, effective 20 January 2025, per executive orders (1)(2) (3), could increase return flows, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) estimating that up to 261,651 Hondurans may face deportation during 2025 (4). Over the past decade, 596,394 migrants have returned. In 2024 alone, 21,442 returnees were recorded.
Provide any updates in the situation since the field report and explain what is expected to happen.
According to data from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the return of 261,651 Hondurans is anticipated in 2025. This number could increase if Mexico and Guatemala reform their migration policies, intensifying the flow of returns. In this scenario, the operational capacity of the migrant returnee care centers in northern Honduras could be overwhelmed. According to INM, since the start of this operation 7,423 people have returned to Honduras from from the United States and 1808 from Mexico amounting 99% of the overall people returned to Honduras. From these total (9231 people) 75% were men, 11% women and 14% children. These figures represented a 5% decrease with respect to the same period in 2024 (Feb 2024-May 2024) where INM recorded 9771 people returned from United States and Mexico.
Reception could be distributed across various points in the country, especially at Palmerola (Comayagua), Toncontín (Tegucigalpa), and Golosón (La Ceiba) airports, as well as the main land border crossings with Guatemala: Ocotepeque-Agua Caliente, Copán-Florido, and Cortés-Corinto. This might necessitate the establishment of new care points and the deployment of officials from various ministries, including Foreign Affairs, Childhood, Adolescence and Family (SENAF), Social Development (SEDESOL), and the National Migration Institute (INM).
Humanitarian assistance, as stipulated by the Law for the Protection of Honduran Migrants and their Families (Article No. 27), will include services such as humane reception, social orientation, basic health assistance, food, clothing, communication with relatives, transportation, attention to vulnerable cases, and shelter.