(20 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
San Pedro Sula, Honduras – 19 May 2025
1. Various of self-deported migrants coming out of Deported Migrant Reception Center
2. Self-deported migrants’ luggage
3. Migrant coming out of center
4. Self-deported migrant Kevin Posadas showing CBP Home app on his mobile phone
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Kevin Posadas, self-deported migrant:
"Enjoy my family now and see when the program with the visa comes out, but at this point, the US government hasn’t said whether it’s happening yet. Once they announce that it’s ready, we’ll see if we apply and return legally."
6. Various of self-deported migrants waiting for transportation
7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Antonio García, Honduras Deputy Foreign Minister:
"They say it’s difficult, that there’s a hostile atmosphere towards migrants, that they’re afraid to go out to work or walk down the street, that sometimes there are raids in restaurants and workplaces. So it’s a very unpleasant environment and they say: ‘no, I’d rather not live like this, I’m going back to my country’."
8. Various of self-deported migrants walking with their luggage
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Wilson Paz, Honduras Immigration Director:
"I don’t think it will be thousands of people who apply for the program, but we will have quite a few cases, and it is our responsibility to ensure that they arrive in an orderly fashion on charter flights, that we have the manifests in advance so that there are no delays, and that we can support them in everything they need upon arrival to the country."
10. Various of self-deported migrants walking out with their luggage
STORYLINE:
The United States on Monday sent 68 immigrants from Honduras and Colombia back to their countries, the first government-funded flight of what the Trump administration is calling voluntary deportations.
In the northern Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, 38 Hondurans, including 19 children, disembarked from the charter flight carrying $1,000 debit cards from the U.S. government and the offer to one day be allowed to apply for legal entry into the U.S.
U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to increase deportations substantially.
Experts believe the self-deportation offer will only appeal to a small portion of migrants already considering return, but unlikely to spur high demand.
The offer has been paired with highly-publicized migrant detentions in the U.S. and flying a couple hundred Venezuelan migrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
Kevin Antonio Posadas, from Tegucigalpa, had lived in Houston for three years, but had already been considering a return to Honduras when the Trump administration announced its offer.
Posadas said the process through the CBP Home app was easy.
Posadas said he hadn’t feared deportation and liked living in the U.S., but had been thinking for some time about going home.
He said eventually he would consider taking up the U.S. government’s offer of allowing those who self-deport to apply to enter the United States legally.
Twenty-six more migrants aboard the flight were headed home to Colombia, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security statement.
Honduras Deputy Foreign Minister Antonio García said the Honduran government would also support the returning migrants with $100 cash and another $200 credit at a government-run store that sells basic necessities.
Among the migrants arriving voluntarily Monday were four children who were born in the United States, García said.
He didn’t expect the number to accelerate much, despite the Trump administration’s intentions.
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