The Mexican National Institute of Migration, a governmental unit supervising migration, has deported over 100 Honduran citizens, including 63 minors, the institute said.
As many as 104 Hondurans were deported on Saturday over violations of the rules of staying in the country, the institute specified. The plane carrying the migrants back to their home country departed from the Mexican state of Veracruz.
The move came amid Washington’s pressure on Mexico to reduce the flow of migrants trying to pass into the United States through its southwestern border with the Latin American country. US President Donald Trump has said that the United States will be forced to partially close its border with Mexico if the situation does not change.
Around 300,000 migrants crossed into Mexico in the first three months of 2019, according to the country’s Interior Ministry. The head of the Mexican National Institute of Migration, Tonatiuh Guillen Lopez, said on Tuesday that Mexico had returned around 15,000 migrants, mostly from Central America, back to their home countries over the past 30 days.
The US southern border has been in the spotlight of controversy when a caravan, including thousands of people from Central America, tried to enter the United States via the country’s border with Mexico. US border guards dispersed the crowds using tear gas against them. The authorities dispatched additional troops to the border in a bid to hamper the potential migrant invasion.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced his concerns over the influx of migrants coming to the United States though Mexico, stressing that a border wall is necessary to prevent criminals from entering the United States.