New data from Baja California shows the Tijuana migrant shelter receiving far fewer deportations than under Biden, even as Trump vows mass removals.
The shelter in Tijuana set up to welcome deported Mexican migrants from the U.S. You have seen 12,000 people arrive at the facility through the end of November.
María José Juárez Becerra, director of Baja California’s Migrant Affairs Office, said all the migrants who have been brought to the shelter violated terms of their visas in the U.S., or were arrested in ICE raids or detained during the asylum process.
“And we’re seeing cases where people are voluntarily returning to Mexico like a tourist would normally come back,” she said. “We’re also seeing men being deported who have families remain in the United States, and we’ve seen entire families who decided to come back together.”
Despite the promises of mass deportations by the Trump administration, Juárez Becerra said the number of actual deportations this year is lower than it was under President Biden in 2024.
She referenced numbers from Mexico’s Institute of Migration saying the number of deportations through Tijuana last year was 37,509, more than triple what has occurred through the first 11 months of this year.
“This has allowed us to better serve those who have come into the shelter, provide them with the services and attention they deserve,” she said.
Most of the migrants brought to the shelter are from the Mexican states of Guerrero, Michoacán, the state of México, Oaxaca and Chiapas.
“They all share stories of why they fled their homes, whether it was domestic violence, recruitment and threats by cartels, or a yearning to join families in the United States, reasons that didn’t work out.”
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