The Guatemalan government estimates that 2.7 million Guatemalans reside in the United States, but only 400,000 of them hold legal residency and work documents.
The United States has deported a record 61,680 Guatemalans in 2024, according to Guatemala’s state migration institute, which reported the arrival of new deportees on Wednesday. Four planes landed at Guatemala City’s air base from Texas that day.
This surge in deportations comes ahead of Donald Trump’s expected return to the White House in January 2025, with Trump having vowed to implement mass deportations.
The Guatemalan government estimates that 2.7 million Guatemalans live in the United States, but only 400,000 hold legal residency and work documents.
In total, 508 planes carrying 61,680 Guatemalan deportees have arrived from the United States in 2024, officials stated. This surpasses the previous record of 55,302 deportations in 2023, which had already exceeded the 2019 record of 54,599.
Every year, thousands of Guatemalans migrate to the United States to escape violence and widespread poverty. Their remittances, often a critical financial lifeline for families in Guatemala, will total nearly $21 billion in 2024 and account for 19 percent of the country’s GDP, according to Guatemala’s central bank.
