Xiomara Castro conditions the existence of a US military base in Honduras on the mass expulsion of immigrants

Honduran President Xiomara Castro threatened Wednesday to close U.S. military bases in the country if President-elect Donald Trump moves forward with his promised strategy of mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

“We hope that the new North American administration of the democratically elected president, Donald Trump, will be open to dialogue, constructive and friendly; that it will not take unnecessary retaliation against our migrants, who as a rule make a great contribution to the North American economy,” Castro said in a message evening to Hondurans and published on the social network

A month after his November presidential victory, Trump reiterated in an interview on the show NBC News’ “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker” his intention to move forward with deportations.

“I think it needs to be done,” Trump said. “It’s a very difficult thing to do. You know, there are rules, regulations, laws.”

The Honduran president lashed out today against that policy, just over two weeks before the Republican’s inauguration.

“Faced with a hostile attitude of mass expulsion of our brothers, we would have to consider a change in our cooperation policies with the United States, especially in the military field in which without paying a cent for decades they maintain military bases in our territory, which in this case , they would lose all reason for existing in Honduras.

The aforementioned facility is the Soto Cano Air Base, also known as Palmerola, located about 8 km from Comayagua. Joint Task Force Bravo, under orders from the US Southern Command, indicates that the base in Palmerola was established in 1982.

According to data from the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), it was estimated in January 2022 that some 11 million immigrants were in the United States illegally in January 2022. To date, the figure could be higher .

Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, which have the largest number of people living illegally in the U.S. after Mexico, could be the first and most affected by mass deportations, said Jason Houser, former chief of staff at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. of the United States (ICE) in the Joe Biden government.

About 560,000 Hondurans, about 5% of the country’s population, live in the United States without legal status, according to government figures in Washington. Of these, migration experts estimate that about 150,000 can be located and expelled quickly.

Trump, however, has made clear that he wants a deal to protect immigrant “Dreamers,” as those brought to the United States illegally as children are known, and said Republicans are open to the idea.

[Parte de la información para este reporte provino de The Associated Press]

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channels YouTube, WhatsApp and to newsletter. Turn on notifications and follow us on Facebook, x and instagram.