Scores of illegal migrants who entered during the Biden-Harris administration are now openly stating they plan to “self-deport” in the final days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. NewsNation host Markie Martin, the sister of Trump’s deputy communications director Margo Martin, appeared taken aback as she reported on the growing trend across the U.S. In recent days, migrants have told immigration attorneys that they would rather leave on their own terms than face arrest, detention, and deportation without any input on where Trump might send them.
Though it’s not clear how many illegal migrants may be leaving on their own accord, a “trend” is developing across the U.S. that correspondent Jorge Ventura said has Mexico “bracing” to receive a crush of new arrivals once Trump is inaugurated on January 20th. “It is hardline messaging on those deportations” from Trump that has some migrants “panicking and even choosing now to self-deport back to their home country,” he reported from San Antonio, Texas.
Rolando Vazquez, an immigration attorney in the city, said several of his clients are so afraid of forcible removal that they’d rather just leave on their own accord. “Just as recently as yesterday, they notified me that they’re going to depart the country voluntarily, understanding that the Trump administration is going to carry through on their promises,” he told NewsNation.
Illegal migrants are also being encouraged to leave due to a new policy from Mexico, which will allow more non-Mexican deportees from the U.S. to be processed. This shift follows a conversation between President-elect Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, where Trump threatened steep tariffs on Mexican imports unless her government increased its efforts to support U.S. deportations.
The change in Mexican policy is expected to have the greatest impact on migrants from Cuba and Venezuela, two Latin American countries plagued by violence and corruption, where many residents have fled to the U.S. seeking asylum. While both nations do not typically accept deportations from the U.S., “they may from Mexico,” Ventura reported. “This is causing many migrants to leave on their own, knowing that they’re either going to be deported to their home country or be deported to Mexico, and obviously the overwhelming majority of them do not want to be in Mexico,” Vazquez, the immigration attorney, explained.
Compounding the uncertainty is the rising violence and human trafficking orchestrated by Mexican cartels, who are expected to exploit many of the migrants deported to Mexico. President Sheinbaum has not yet commented on whether her administration has a strategy to prevent the cartels from targeting these individuals. Watch the video report below.
