U.S. deportations to Central America’s Northern Triangle fall 46.8% in early 2021

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The number of people deported from the USA to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras fell by 46.8% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In this period, the IOM report indicates that 23,579 people were returned from these countries, known as the Northern Triangle of Central America, compared to the 44,351 cases computed in the first quarter of 2020.

This represents a drop of 20,772 deportations.

The document points out that deportations from the United States in the period under study totaled 3,530, 84.6% less than the 22,985 in 2020, while returns from Mexico went from 20,921 to 19,904, a drop of 4.9%.

According to IOM data, the country with the greatest reduction in deportations is El Salvador, with a drop of 84.1 %, ahead of Guatemala and Honduras, which registered drops of 51.9 % and 27.5 %, respectively.

The processed data were taken from the governmental General Directorate of Migration and Foreigners (DGME) of El Salvador, the Guatemalan Migration Institute (IGM) and the Social Welfare Secretariat (SBS) of Guatemala, and the Consular and Migratory Observatory of Honduras (Conmigho).

The U.S. government’s special envoy for the Northern Triangle, Ricardo Zúñiga, visited Guatemala and El Salvador in early April to address irregular migration.

Every year, it is estimated that more than 500,000 people from these three countries, including thousands of minors, attempt to migrate illegally to the United States in search of better living conditions.