By the Associated Press’s MEGAN JANETSKY
Honduras’ San Pedro Sula (AP) Norma sits beneath fluorescent lights, holding a little plate of eggs and a froth cup of coffee that were waiting for her in Honduras, while dozens of deported migrants cram themselves into a hot airport facility in San Pedro Sula.
The 69-year-old mother from Honduras had never thought she would leave her homeland in Central America. After that, she and her kids received anonymous death threats, and armed men showed up at her home threatening to kill her, just like they had done to one of her relatives a few days before.
At the end of October, Norma, who asked not to be named for fear of her safety, used her $10,000 life savings to take her daughter and granddaughter on a one-way trip north.
However, they were placed on a deportation aircraft when her asylum requests to the United States were denied. She is now trapped in the cycle of violence and economic instability that plagues deportees like her, back in Honduras and within reach of the same gang.
In the migrant processing center, she stated, “They can find us in every corner of Honduras.” Since we have no expectations of the government, we are praying for God’s protection.
Honduras and other Central American nations that people have fled for generations are now preparing for a possible influx of vulnerable migrants, a situation they are ill-equipped to handle, as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office in January with a promise to carry out mass deportations.
We don t have the capacity’
According to Jason Houser, a former chief of staff for Immigration & Customs Enforcement in the Biden administration, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, which have the second-highest number of illegal immigrants in the United States behind Mexico, may be among the first and most severely affected by mass deportations.
Houser suggests that the Trump administration may prioritize the deportation of the most vulnerable migrants from those countries who have removal orders but no criminal record in an attempt to quickly increase the number of deportations because nations like Venezuela refuse to accept deportation flights from the U.S.
According to Houser, Hondurans, Guatemalans, and Salvadorans should be extremely anxious because Trump authorities will push the boundaries of the law.
Migrants and organizations that assist deportees in the Northern Triangle nations fear that their return will plunge them into even more severe humanitarian and economic problems, which will ultimately lead to more migration.
Antonio Garc, the deputy foreign minister of Honduras, stated, “We don’t have the capacity to take so many people.” For deportees, there isn’t much here. He claimed that those who return are the last to receive care.
Making their way back to the US
About 500,000 deportees have arrived in Honduras since 2015. When they get off buses and airplanes, they are met with coffee, little plates of food, and packages of deodorant and toothbrush. Some cry in fear, while others exhale with relief at being released from the terrible circumstances of American prisons.
One woman in a group of deportees waiting for a guy clacking at a keyboard to call their names remarked, “We don’t know what we’ll do, what comes next.”
According to U.S. government statistics, 560,000 Hondurans, or around 5% of the nation’s population, reside in the United States illegally. According to migration specialists, over 150,000 of them can be located and quickly removed.
According to Garc, although the government provides programs to assist returnees, the majority are released into a gang-infested nation with little assistance. They have limited employment possibilities to cover their debilitating debts. Because of the gang members circling her house, people like Norma are unable to go back home.
Norma stated that she doesn’t know why they were singled out, but she thinks it was because the deceased family had issues with a gang.
According to Garc, up to 40% of Honduran deportees return to the United States in spite of the crackdown.
A looming humanitarian crisis
One person who has had difficulty reintegrating into Honduran culture is 31-year-old Larissa Martnez, who was deported from the United States in 2021 along with her three children. The single mother wanted a better life in the United States due to financial hardship and the absence of her husband, who had moved away and left her for another woman.
In order to feed her children and pay off the $5,000 she owes family members for the trip north, Martnez has been looking for work for the past three years since returning to Honduras.
Her attempts have failed. In order to make ends meet, she erected a shaky wooden house in the hilly outskirts of San Pedro Sula. She sells cheese and meat there, but sales have been slow, and the thin walls where they sleep have been eroded by tropical rains.
She has started mentally reciting the following: “I’ll leave in January if I don’t find work in December.”
According to Csar Mu oz, a leader at the Mennonite Social Action Commission, deportees like Martnez have been abandoned by Honduran authorities, leaving organizations like his to fill the void. However, relief networks are already overburdened by the three deportation aircraft that arrive each week.
Aid organizations, migrants, and their families may be left reeling if there is a large increase. As this crucial link is severed, nations that depend heavily on remittances from the United States, such as Honduras, may suffer grave economic repercussions.
According to Mu Oz, we are on the verge of a new humanitarian calamity.
Latin American countries that are linked to the United States through commerce and migration have responded to Trump’s return in a variety of ways.
More than 750,000 Guatemalans are undocumented in the United States, and the country declared in November that it was developing a plan to deal with possible mass deportations. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that she would ask Trump to deport non-Mexicans back to their home countries, adding that Mexico is already improving legal services in its U.S. consulates.
Garc A, the deputy foreign minister of Honduras, voiced doubts about Trump’s warning, pointing out the logistical difficulties of mass deportations as well as the economic advantages immigrants bring to the American economy. According to aid groups like Mu Oz, Honduras isn’t adequately ready for a possible spike in deportations.
According to Garc, it would be hard to stop individuals from migrating, even if Trump launched a crackdown. As they board busses to return to the United States, groups of deportees are motivated by poverty, violence, and the desire for a better life.
Smugglers are providing migrants with packages that give them three chances to reach the north as deportations by Mexican and U.S. officials increase for both countries. Migrants still have two opportunities to reach the United States if they are apprehended while traveling and sent back home.
Kimberly Orellana, 26, who recently returned to Honduras, claimed she was held in a Texas facility for three months before being transported back to San Pedro Sula, where she waited for her mother to pick her up at a bus station.
However, she was already making plans to go back, claiming she had no other option because her 4-year-old daughter Marcelle was waiting for her in North Carolina, being looked after by a friend.
To improve their chances of making it over, smugglers separated the two as they crossed the Rio Grande. Orellana promised her daughter they will be together again.
Are you certain you’re coming, Mami? Marcelle calls her and asks.
“Now that I’m here, I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to fulfill that promise,” Orellana added, holding onto her Honduran passport. I must try again. All I have is my kid.
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