EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – An official in the border state of Chihuahua says emergency plans are in place to accommodate up to 2,500 Mexicans deported from the United States.
“We are working closely with our federal government to establish five sites to receive our citizens and help them return to their place of origin,” Chihuahua Secretary of Government Santiago de la Peña said. “We will provide food and, if needed, medical services.”
Three emergency shelters would be set up in Juarez and two in Ojinaga – south of Presidio, Texas. The locations will be disclosed as lodging space is needed. Their combined maximum occupancy would be around 2,500, he said.
That’s in addition to space in the 20 to 25 private and church-run migrant shelters in Juarez alone, none of which was full as of Thursday.
De la Peña said Mexico has no idea how many of its citizens residing in the United States will be displaced if incoming President Donald Trump makes good on his campaign promises of mass deportations of unauthorized migrants.
“We have a benchmark in deportations from 2009; that’s our last point of reference, and that’s what we are preparing for,” the Chihuahua official said. “Everything else is speculation.”
The benchmark De la Peña mentioned is the 277,915 deportations of Mexicans by the Obama administration in 2009. That was in addition to 468,722 documented voluntary returns, according to research from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City.
The same research has 1.3 million Mexicans living in the United States being either removed or offered voluntary returns to Mexico by the Bush administration in 2004.
De la Peña did not address taking in third-country migrants. That has been a point of contention between Mexico and the Biden administration as well as the first Trump administration.
Mexican law provides for the free transit of its citizens whether they’re leaving or coming in. Entry, travel, residence or humanitarian permits are required of foreigners.
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