Guatemala City, Dec 31 (EFE).- The United States deported 48,405 Guatemalan migrants during 2025, representing a 22% decrease compared to 2024 and the lowest number in the last three years. This decline occurs despite the offensive against irregular migration launched by U.S. President Donald Trump since he took office this past January. The forced return of migrants from the U.S. took place in 532 flights, according to information released this Tuesday by the Guatemalan Institute of Migration.
The last three flights with Guatemalan migrants arrived this Tuesday in Guatemala with 245 deportees, closing the year with a total of 48,405 people returned to their country of origin, a figure lower than the 61,680 of 2024. One of the deportees this Tuesday, Marvin Orozco, told EFE that he had been in the United States since 2005. Orozco stated that he left his four children in the U.S. and that now in Guatemala he is "going to start a business to move forward," clarifying that he has no plans to return to the United States.
Another deported migrant, Pedro Gómez, told EFE that he went to the "out of necessity" and due to the "poverty" he lived in in the department (province) of Huehuetenango, in the northwest of the Guatemalan territory. "I'm going to start over. You have to give it your all," he said optimistically, enthusiastic about starting a construction business in Guatemala. The three flights that landed this Tuesday at La Aurora airport in Guatemala City came from Alexandria (in Louisiana), Jacksonville (Florida), and Houston (Texas).
Due to poverty and violence, every year thousands of Guatemalans depart irregularly for the United States in search of better living conditions. The number of deportees this year from the U.S. is the lowest in at least the last three years, with 55,302 Guatemalans forcibly sent to their country in 2023 in 470 flights and 61,680 in 2024 in 508 flights. "The only bad thing now is the loss of family," one explained.
This decrease occurs despite the tightening of immigration laws in the United States, where Trump has prioritized the fight against irregular migration since taking office nearly a year ago, drastically reducing the number of irregular border crossings or promoting raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), triggering fear among the irregular migrant population to leave their homes. In February of this year, Guatemala's President, Bernardo Arévalo de León, committed to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to receive 30% more deportation flights. It is estimated that some 3.6 million Guatemalan migrants reside in U.S. territory, the majority in an irregular situation, according to figures from the Consular Network in the U.S.
