The Mexican government is building large camps in Ciudad Juárez to accommodate the expected influx of Mexicans repatriated by the president Donald Trump promised mass deportations.
Tent shelters in Ciudad Juárez have been made to temporarily house thousands of people and will be ready in just a few days, city official Enrique Licon told Reuters.
“It’s unprecedented,” Licon said Tuesday of Mexico’s plan to build shelters and reception centers in nine cities south of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Authorities there will reportedly provide the deported Mexicans with food, temporary housing, medical care and assistance in obtaining identity documents, Reuters reported.
TRUMP WILL MAKE HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS, INCLUDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR HORRIFIC CRIMES
A member of the Mexican Navy walks amid the tent structure of an industrial warehouse, to be used by Mexican authorities as a temporary shelter for migrants deported from the United States, in Mexicali, Mexico, on January 22, 2025. (REUTERS/Victor Medina)
The government will also provide transportation for Mexican citizens to return to their hometowns.
Trump campaigned to initiate the largest mass deportation of illegal immigrants in US history and began the effort after taking office on Monday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has already made more than 460 arrests, targeting illegal immigrants with criminal records, including for violent crimes.
Data collected by Fox News Digital shows that between midnight on Jan. 21 and 9 a.m. on Jan. 22, over a 33-hour period, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested more than 460 illegal immigrants whose criminal histories include sexual assault, robbery , burglary, aggravated assault, drugs and weapons, resisting arrest and domestic violence.
Agents arrested nationals of a number of countries, including Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Senegal and Venezuela.
‘FAST REMOVAL’: TRUMP DHS EXPANDS EXPEDITED DEPORTATION POWERS AS OPERATIONS STRENGTHEN
A drone view shows workers setting up an industrial warehouse tent, to be used by Mexican authorities as a temporary shelter for migrants deported from the United States, in Mexicali, Mexico on January 22, 2025. (REUTERS/Victor Medina)
The arrests took place across the US, including Illinois, Utah, California, Minnesota, New York, Florida and Maryland.
Nearly five million Mexicans live in the United States illegally, according to an analysis by Mexican think tank El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF) based on recent U.S. census data.
President Donald Trump began his policy of mass deportations to fight against criminal illegal aliens. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Many are from parts of central and southern Mexico plagued by violence and poverty. About 800,000 Mexicans in the United States illegally are from Michoacán, Guerrero and Chiapas, according to a COLEF study, where fierce fighting between organized crime groups in recent years has forced thousands to flee, sometimes leaving entire towns abandoned.
Trump quickly relaunched policies aimed at stemming the flow of migrants into the US former President Biden was finished. On Monday, the Trump administration ended the CBP One application program that allowed migrants waiting in Mexico to schedule an appointment to enter the U.S. legally. Then on Tuesday, Trump reinstated the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a requirement that non-Mexican asylum seekers wait in Mexico until their cases are resolved.
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Immigration activists worry that Trump’s tough immigration policies will flood Mexico with deportees, but the government insists it is ready.
“Mexico will do whatever is necessary to take care of its compatriots and will allocate whatever is necessary to receive those who are returned,” Mexican Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodriguez said at a news conference on Monday, according to Reuters.
Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw and Reuters contributed to this report.
