Over ****** persons were returned to the three countries that make up the Northern Triangle of Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) in 2020. During that year, nearly ** percent of migrants were repatriated from Mexico. The vast majority of migrants were deported by either Mexico or the U.S.

Guatemala was the country of origin of the largest quantity of migrants that are deported from Mexico. In 2023, over 25,100 Guatemalan citizens entering Mexico were assisted or forced to return to their country of origin. Guatemala was followed by another two other American countries: Honduras and Ecuador.

The dataset consists of the number Removals by Country of Citizenship by the United State's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in each fiscal year. An ICE removal is defined as the compulsory and confirmed movement of an inadmissible or deportable noncitizen out of the United States.

Mexican deportations from the United States have fluctuated significantly over the past decade and a half, with the highest numbers occurring during Barack Obama's first term. From 2009 to 2012, nearly 1.85 million Mexicans were deported, a figure that has since declined under subsequent administrations. The Biden administration has seen 824,018 Mexican nationals deported between 2021 and 2024, marking a slight increase from the Trump years. Recent trends in deportations While deportations saw a sharp decline during the pandemic years, they have since rebounded. In 2024 alone, 87,300 Mexicans were deported from the United States, indicating a renewed focus on immigration enforcement. This uptick in deportations comes amid a broader increase in unauthorized immigration, with an estimated 10.99 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States in 2022, up from about 3.5 million in 1990. Refugees in Mexico The complexities of migration in the Americas extend beyond U.S.-Mexico dynamics. Mexico itself has become a significant host country for refugees, with approximately 124,784 refugees residing there in 2023. This represents a substantial increase from the previous year, driven largely by Venezuelan, Haitian, and Central American migrants. Honduras remains the primary country of origin for refugees in Mexico, with over 9,000 Hondurans granted refugee status in 2023, followed by Venezuela with 1,602 citizens.

Over ******* persons were returned to the three countries that make up the Northern Triangle of Central America (Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras) in 2019, the largest figure of the period under consideration. Approximately ** percent of those migrants were returned to Honduras. In 2020, due to the restrictions imposed during the pandemic, the volume of returnees more than halved, falling to ******. During that year, nearly ** percent of migrants were repatriated from Mexico.

In 2023, around ****** deportations were conducted from Germany. This was an increase of around ***** compared with the previous year. During the specified time period, numbers peaked in 2016.

Abstract

Multiple causes for displacement, all too often underpinned by violence and persecution, has led to over 800,000 Central Americans fleeing their homes, beginning in 2013. Year after year, there has been an increase in individuals fleeing. This was marked initially by especially large numbers of unaccompanied children, then joined in around 2018 with dramatic increases in families units fleeing Central America. Families are forced to flee together as violent threats and persecution by criminal groups in communities extend beyond individuals to entire family units.

Given these shifting dynamics in human mobility in these countries, UNHCR and UNICEF, through the Interdisciplinary Development Consultants, CID Gallup, decided to undertake this study with the aim of understanding and giving visibility to the forced displacement of families that flee northern Central America. In addition, the study also seeks to shed light on the current trends, protection risks and factors associated to the forced displacement and migration of unaccompanied and separated children.

For this purpose, Gallup conducted 3,104 surveys, complemented by focus group sessions segmented according to the geography of displacement in the region: country of origin, of transit and of asylum. Additionally, interviews were undertaken with families who were part of large mixed movement "caravans" that left Honduras at the beginning of 2020.

Analysis unit

Household

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

A significant sample was taken of each profile interviewed for a total of 3,104 surveys conducted in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. The content of each survey was focused on the following profiles:

Families and children and adolescents at risk of displacement in countries of origin: a total of 789 surveys were carried out with families identified from a non-probabilistic sampling. The surveys were taken in areas with the highest criminality and violence rates in countries of origin (El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), which were also areas with a prior history of forced displacement identified through previous studies. The survey questions focused on risks faced by families in their places of origin, including those that would compel them to flee, particularly those related to violence and poverty.

Families and children and adolescents in transit: a total of 836 surveys were carried out with families identified from a non-probabilistic sampling. The surveys were taken at locations where persons in transit were typically found in Guatemala and Mexico, such as Casas de Migrantes. For the quantitative component, data of unaccompanied children and adolescents was gatheredin Casa Nuestras Raices in Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango. This segment of the population was surveyed on the risks they faced during transit as well as the causes of displacement from their countries of origin.

Families and children and adolescents in country of destination: through non-probabilistic sampling methods, 453 people were surveyed, the majority of whom were recognized as refugees or asylum seekers in Mexico. Several interviews were facilitated by the UNHCR Office in Mexico in areas with this population profile: Casa del Migrante Monsenor-Oluta Veracruz, Scalabrinianas Mision con Migrantes y Refugiados, State DIF, Municipal DIF, among others. The survey questions for this population focused on the asylum procedure and their living conditions in the country.

Deported families and children and adolescents: non-probability cluster sampling. Interviews were conducted with 1,026 families that had been detained and deported during the 12 months prior to the survey. Locations included the Guatemalan Air Force base, outside of the Center for the Comprehensive Assistance to Migrants (CAIM for its acronym in Spanish) and outside of the following locations in Honduras: Center for the Assistance of Migrant Children and Families in Belen, and Center for the Assistance to the Returned Migrant (CAMR) and CAMR-OMOA.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaire contains the following sections: household characteristics, individual characteristics, details on deportation, risks, transit, settled households.

Between 1941 and early 1945, over 1.3 million people were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp complex; approximately 1.1 million of these deportees were Jewish, and one million Jews were murdered. Auschwitz was the largest of six extermination camps constructed by the Nazi regime in Poland, as part of their "Final Solution to the Jewish Question", which sought to exterminate Europe's Jewish population.

The Holocaust in Hungary Of the 1.1 million Jews sent to Auschwitz, the most common country of origin was Hungary. Hungary had a sizeable Jewish population of around 445,000 people in 1930, but Hungary's territory grew significantly after it annexed parts of Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia in the late-1930s, and the total Jewish population (including Christians with Jewish heritage) in the 1941 census was approximately 825,000. Compared to the Germans, Hungary's treatment of the Jews throughout the war had been much less restrictive, and its prime minister opposed deportations to concentration camps. German invasion and increasing number of deportations This changed, however, in March 1944; as the Axis forces were being pushed west out of Soviet territory; Germany then invaded Hungary to prevent them from negotiating a peace with the Allies. Thereafter, a puppet government was installed and authorities, under the leadership of Adolf Eichmann, began to round up and deport Jews to Poland. While the Nazi extermination of Jews began on a large scale in 1941, the majority of Hungary's victims were deported and murdered over an eight week period, between May and July 1944. 430,000 Jews were deported from Hungary to Auschwitz in this time; it is estimated that around 20 percent of these were selected for labor, and the remaining 80 percent were sent directly to the gas chambers. Arrivals from Hungary were so rapid that the crematoriums could not keep up with the rate of murder, and additional mass graves had to be dug while the number of trains was reduced. Eventually, as the Axis position deteriorated, Hungarian authorities ceased deportations under mounting pressure from the Allies in early July. Exact figures for Hungary's death toll in the Holocaust remain elusive, although it is estimated that over 560,000 Jews were killed from within Hungary's wartime borders (270,000 from pre-war territories), with 434,000 of these deaths taking place between May and July 1944, the majority of which at Auschwitz.

In 2023, around ***** deportations in Germany were completed from Frankfurt/ Main Airport, making it the most used deportation airport in the country. ***** deportations set off from Dusseldorf Airport and ***** from Munich.

The estimated population of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. stands at around ** million people. Although the number has stabilized, the United States has seen a spike in migrant encounters in the last few years, with over * million cases registered by the U.S. Border Patrol in 2023. This is a slight decrease from the previous year, when there were over *** million cases registered. Due to its proximity and shared border, Mexico remains the leading country of origin for most undocumented immigrants in the U.S., with California and Texas being home to the majority.

Immigration and political division

Despite the majority of the population having immigrant roots, the topic of immigration in the U.S. remains one of the country’s longest-standing political debates. Support among Republicans for restrictive immigration has grown alongside Democratic support for open immigration. This growing divide has deepened the polarization between the two major political parties, stifling constructive dialogue and impeding meaningful reform efforts and as a result, has led to dissatisfaction from all sides. In addition to general immigration policy, feelings toward illegal immigration in the U.S. also vary widely. For some, it's seen as a significant threat to national security, cultural identity, and economic stability. This perspective often aligns with support for stringent measures like Trump's proposed border wall and increased enforcement efforts. On the other hand, there are those who are more sympathetic toward undocumented immigrants, as demonstrated by support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Of the 3,677 repatriations carried out in Spain in 2023, more than 84 percent were deportations. It is worth mentioning that the number of returns experienced a rebound from 2015, while the number of expulsions followed the opposite trend.

European citizenship and life in another EU country. Topics: European citizenship or preference for personal nationality; knowledge of a possibility to apply for Union Citizenship; conceivablilty of simultaneous identity as Union Citizen and national citizen; pride to be a Union Citizen; national pride; knowledge about the rights of a Union Citizen such as e.g. active and passive right to vote in municipal and European Elections, free choice of job, travel without border checks, utilization of all embassies of the EU member countries, right to complain to the European Parliament, right to a European passport, equal treatment with the citizens of the country of stay; right to stay in all member countries; general interest in a permanent stay in another EU country as well as in case of unemployment in one´s country for college or further education as well as place of retirement; possible fears in permanent stay in another EU country regarding loss of the right to a pension, loss of the right to unemployment benefit, rights to health insurance, discrimination regarding domestic colleagues, fear of payment of increased taxes and government costs, status as foreigner in country of stay, concern of increased bueraucracy and fear of deportation in case of unemployment; assumed right to a say of Union Citizens in decisions of the European Union; party preference (Sunday question).

In 2023, Italy counted almost 195,000 people illegally present on the national territory. Specifically, 190,000 people were charged for entering the country without valid documents. In Europe, the largest number of illegal migrants was found in Germany, with Italy ranking at the second place. The same year, 3490 asylum requests submitted to the Italian authorities were denied.

During the first half of 2024, the social media and forum community platform Reddit received the biggest share of its content removal requests from India. Reddit chose to comply with 65 percent of the 22 requests received by the Indian authorities. Governmental bodies can request the removal of entire communities, pieces of content, or content in bulk from the platform for various reasons, including the alleged violation of local laws. The United Arab Emirates ranked second based on the number of content removal requests, followed by Australia, and Germany.

Between 2020 and the first half of 2024, Russia accounted for the majority of content removal requests to Google by courts and government agencies, making up 64 percent of all requests. South Korea followed with 10 percent, while India accounted for five percent.

Between 2013 and 2022, Russia had the highest number of content removal requests sent to Google by the government, with more than 215 thousand requests. South Korea ranked second, with over 267 thousand requests for content removal. India's government sent over 195 thousand requests to Google for online content removal in the measured period.

Between 2020 and the first half of 2024, Russia recorded the highest number of web search removal requests from Google, totaling almost 68 thousand. South Korea followed with over fifteen thousand requests, while France registered over 3,136 during the same period.

Between July and December 2021, courts submitted 941 removal requests to X/Twitter worldwide. Another 46,631 removal requests were made from governments agencies, law enforcement, and other authorized reporters. Overall, Turkish courts requested 525 court orders, and Russia ordered 185 in total.

From January to December 2024, around 66,000 migrants arrived in Italy by sea. Between 2014 and 2024, the number of migrants setting foot in the country peaked in 2016 at 181,000 individuals, whereas in 2019 only 11,400 people were rescued from the sea. In fact, stricter immigration policies were enacted between 2018 and 2019 by the right-wing and populist government supported by the League and the Five-Star Movement. Among the most frequent countries of origin declared upon arrivals in 2024, Bangladesh and Syria ranked in the first places. About 13,800 were Bangladeshi citizens, while around 12,500 immigrants came from Syria. Asylum seekers and minors among the migrants In 2023, the largest number of asylum applicants in Italy were from Bangladesh. In fact, 23,450 requests were recorded as of December 2023, while 18,300 applicants were from Egypt, the second most common nationality among asylum seekers. In recent years, many unaccompanied minors reached the Italian coasts. In 2024, 8,043 children migrated without their parents into the country. Contrasting opinions and distorted perceptions  According to the data published by Ipsos, a part of Italians tend to overestimate the size of the immigrated population. The results of this survey uncovered the presence of distorted perceptions in 2018: people thought that about 28 percent of the Italian population was not born in Italy, whereas the actual percentage was around ten. Furthermore, the public opinion on migration was controversial. In the same year, roughly half of the population perceived migrants as a risk for the Italian economy. On the other hand, 18 percent of Italians believed that migration could be a resource for the country.