Mexico’s government is reportedly preparing for President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts by erecting tent cities along the southern border to house those who are removed from the United States.
Mexico is building these shelters in various areas across the border, including football fields and gymnasiums, according to The Telegraph.
Beyond the tents, the Mexican government is building nine shelters in border cities to receive deportees.
It has said that it would also use existing facilities in Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and Matamoros, to take in migrants whose appointments to request asylum in the US were cancelled on inauguration day.
The Pentagon will begin deploying as many as 1,500 active duty troops to help secure the southern border in the coming days, Mr Trump announced on Wednesday.
Part of Trump’s immigration strategy is a policy called “expedited removal,” which allows the Department of Homeland Security to swiftly deport illegal immigrants who are unable to prove they have resided in the country for more than two years. This process would streamline the mass deportation efforts, which are focusing primarily on individuals convicted of violent offenses.
⚡️Mexico is starting to build entire tent cities on the border with the US, preparing for the deportations promised by Trump, media reports👀 pic.twitter.com/Bu115jAucm
— 🌚 MatTrang 🌝 (@MatTrang911) January 23, 2025
The tent cities are only the first step as Mexico prepares to receive heightened numbers of deportees, ABC News reported.
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Enrique Serrano, an official in Chihuahua state, where Ciudad Juárez is located, said the tents erected for Mexican deportees were just the initial phase of a potential larger operation, and something authorities would scale up if the number of migrants gathering on the border continued to mount. He suggested migrants from other countries expelled from the U.S. would be relocated to Mexico City or southern regions of Mexico as they've done previously.
José María Garcia, director of the Tijuana shelter Movimiento Juventud 2000, indicated the coming deportations could place a strain on Mexico’s ability to receive the deportees. He told ABC News that this “could overwhelm the city of Tijuana and other border cities, creating a crisis.”
Mexico wouldn’t have to set up tent cities and offer $98 gift cards to migrants had they helped stop the flow of illegal aliens into our country four years ago. pic.twitter.com/dsxvYcYcv5
— The Researcher (@listen_2learn) January 23, 2025
The facilities are also aimed at cooperating with Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy, which requires those applying for asylum to stay south of the border until their cases are adjudicated.
The Mexican government is building nine shelters in border cities to receive deportees. It has said that it would also use existing facilities in Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez and Matamoros, to take in migrants whose appointments to request asylum in the U.S. were canceled on Inauguration Day.
[Mexican President Gloria[ Sheinbaum has said that Mexico will give humanitarian aid to migrants from other countries whose asylum appointments were cancelled, as well as those sent to wait in her nation under the revived policy known as Remain in Mexico. Mexico wants to eventually and voluntarily return them to their nations, she has said.
The president kicked off his immigration enforcement plans shortly after taking office on Monday. Indeed, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Wednesday that it had apprehended nearly 500 illegal immigrants across the country during the first hours of Trump’s term.
The agency arrested individuals who had criminal backgrounds, including sexual assault, robbery, domestic violence, and other offenses.
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