Did Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum threaten to deport 2 million American immigrants if President-elect Donald Trump sends migrants back to Mexico? No, that's not true: She hasn't made any public statements saying this. Typically, issues like this have been handled through cooperative discussions between the two countries, not through threats.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on December 17, 2024. It said:
Mexican president says that if Trump sends immigrants back to Mexico then she will send back the two million American immigrants😂😂😂
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Dec 18 17:40:28 2024 UTC)
The post doesn't give any proof to support the assertion that the Mexican president would deport millions of Americans if the U.S. sent migrants back to Mexico. Trump has threatened to deport millions of migrants from the United States once he takes office on January 20, 2025.
Google search
Lead Stories found nothing to support this claim. Any threat by Sheinbaum to deport 2 million American immigrants from Mexico would be big news and would be widely reported.
A Google News search (archived here) using the phrase "Mexican president says that if Trump sends immigrants back to Mexico then she will send back the two million American immigrants" yielded dozens of results. Still, none of them supported the claim's authenticity.
Lead Stories also did a Google search (archived here) of the press releases posted on the Government of Mexico's website using the Spanish words for deportation and deport. The search returned no results.
Phone conversation
After a phone call with Trump on November 27, 2024, where they talked about immigration, Sheinbaum shared her side of the discussion on her official X account (archived here). She wrote (translated from Spanish by Google):
In our conversation with President Trump, I explained to him the comprehensive strategy that Mexico has followed to address the migration phenomenon, respecting human rights. Thanks to this, migrants and caravans are assisted before they reach the border. We reiterate that Mexico's position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Dec 18 18:02:30 2024 UTC)
The Mexican president made no mention of deporting Americans from her country.
Read more
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on claims related to Mexico and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum can be found here.
