The United States sent back a record 61,680 Guatemalans in 2024, the state-run Guatemalan Migration Institute said after the last deportee planes arrived in Guatemala City.
Four aircraft touched down at an air force base in the Guatemalan capital on Friday, arriving from Texas. AFP journalists saw around 100 people disembark from one of the planes, most of them women with small children.
The stepped-up returns from America happened ahead of Donald Trump returning to the White House as president in late January 2025. Trump has vowed mass deportations.
Guatemala's government estimates there are 2.7 million Guatemalans living in the United States, but that only 400,000 of them have documents to legally stay and work.
A total of 508 planes carrying 61,680 Guatemalan deportees arrived from the United States in 2024, according to officials.
In 2023, a total 55,302 Guatemalans were sent back, higher than the previous record registered in 2019 of 54,599.
Thousands of Guatemalans irregularly enter the United States each year to escape violence and widespread poverty at home.
Their remittances to families back home are often a vital financial lifeline. Guatemala's central bank estimates that a record of nearly $21 billion was sent back in 2024 – equivalent to 19% of the country's GDP.