President Claudia Sheinbaum said in November that if United States President Donald Trump were to impose a 25% tariff on Mexican exports, her government would put a retaliatory tariff on U.S. exports to Mexico.
The president, however, HAS NOT said that her government is planning to respond to deportations of Mexicans from the United States by deporting U.S. citizens from Mexico.
Despite that, various posts circulating on social media sites such as Facebook claim that Sheinbaum has indicated that her government will consider deporting U.S. citizens in retaliation for the deportation of Mexicans from the United States, where Trump has said he intends to carry out “the largest deportation operation in American history.”
Let’s take a look at the claims, and the facts.
CLAIMS:
One Facebook post claimed that Sheinbaum “warned that her government could take drastic measures against U.S. immigrants residing in the country irregularly.”
The post quoted Sheinbaum as saying: “If Donald Trump continues to implement racist and anti-immigrant policies against Mexicans in the United States, we can also act. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.”
The post said that “the president indicated that her government is evaluating a plan to deport U.S. citizens living in Mexico without paying taxes or without complying with local immigration laws.”
It also said that “currently, more than one million Americans reside in Mexico, many of them retirees living in communities such as San Miguel de Allende, Chapala and the Riviera Maya.”
“According to Sheinbaum,” the post added, “many of these residents do not contribute tax to the country and abuse the privileges Mexico offers them, such as a lower cost of living and flexible access to health care services.”
Other posts made similar claims.
“Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is not tolerating anymore racist attacks toward Mexicans. Nope in fact she is going eye for an eye and will consider deporting U.S. citizens from Mexico,” said one.
“In case some of you were not aware over a million U.S. citizens live in Mexico currently illegally and enjoy the lower cost of living, affordable healthcare without contributing to the economy,” the post continued.
An example of a Spanish-language video promoting the fake statements by Sheinbaum.
A Spanish-language video posing as a news report also claimed that Sheinbaum has outlined a plan to deport U.S. citizens from Mexico.
It quoted Sheinbaum as saying: “If the president of the United States deports all the illegal immigrants to our country, we’ll receive them with open arms. But in response we will arrest all United States citizens in our territory and we will deport them in the same way you are doing.”
Misinformation about Americans at risk of being deported from Mexico: A perspective from our CEO
FACTS:
- President Sheinbaum HAS NOT outlined any plan to deport U.S. citizens living in Mexico. She HAS NOT said that her government is considering the possibility of deporting any U.S. citizens who live in Mexico.
- The Sheinbaum administration has developed a plan to support Mexicans deported from the United States during the second Trump administration.
- Sheinbaum and other federal officials have expressed opposition to Trump’s plan to deport large numbers of immigrants from the United States. They have highlighted that Mexicans make a significant contribution to the United States economy and that the deportation of large numbers of them would thus have an adverse impact on the U.S.
- The exact number of U.S. citizens who live in Mexico on a full and part-time basis is unclear. However, a United States Department of State “bilateral relations fact sheet” that was updated this month says that “an estimated 1.6 million U.S. citizens live in Mexico.” The census carried out in Mexico in 2020 found that 797,266 people born in the United States were living in Mexico.
- Counting the number of U.S. citizens living in Mexico has become even more difficult in recent years due to an influx of remote workers (digital nomads) who typically enter the country as tourists. Many live and work in one place for a period of months or longer, with a significant number basing themselves in Mexico City neighborhoods such as Roma and Condesa.
- The number of U.S. citizens who live in Mexico “illegally” is also unclear. There are certainly a significant number of U.S. citizens who live here for extended periods without applying for or obtaining residency, but their presence in the country would not typically be unlawful unless they have overstayed their visitor permits. U.S. citizens can remain in Mexico for up to 180 days on a visitor permit known as an FMM.
U.S. citizens living in Mexico on expired visitor permits (like in the above image) or working here without permission could be susceptible to deportation, but not U.S. citizens with valid residency permits.
Could Mexico deport a large number of US citizens?
In theory, yes.
Mexico, as a sovereign country, has the right to decide who can enter, and who can live within its borders.
Thus, U.S. citizens living in Mexico on expired visitor permits, or working here without permission, among others, could be susceptible to deportation.
The newspaper Excélsior reported in September that it is estimated that around 1 million U.S. citizens live in Mexico “irregularly,” i.e. without obtaining residency.
However, the federal government HAS NOT indicated any intention to actively look for such people and deport them.
The influx of U.S. citizens to parts of Mexico in recent years has led to an increase in anti-American sentiment (“gringo go home” graffiti and anti-gentrification protests, for example), but Mexican authorities have largely continued to welcome foreigners who want to live here or stay for extended periods.
In 2022, when Sheinbaum was mayor of Mexico City, the Mexico City government entered into a partnership with the accommodation booking platform Airbnb and UNESCO to promote the capital to digital nomads. For decades, many retirees from the United States (and other countries) have lived in Mexico for part of the year without obtaining residency, and without confronting any major problems.
Citing official Mexican data, Fox 5 reported in early 2024 that 261 Americans (i.e. U.S. citizens) were deported from Baja California in 2023.
However, deportations of U.S. citizens appear to be rare. Americans living here “irregularly” or “illegally” are more likely to face fines than deportation. Those fines could be levied when U.S. citizens seek to leave Mexico.
U.S. citizens (and other foreigners) who have not kept their residency status up to date could also face fines.
“If you need to enter a ‘Regularization’ procedure (for example, if your residency card has expired) then you will need to pay a ‘Regularization’ fee of $1,780 Mexican pesos in addition to any other [applicable] fees/fines,” the website Mexperience said in an article headlined “Legal Residency in Mexico: Residency-Related Fees for 2025.”
Mexico News Daily
Of course there’s many people who believe in all fake news, unfortunately.
Thanks for sorting out the nonsense Travis.
Well done.
I second that
Of course la Presidenta isn’t going to say so… yet. But it would be naive to believe Mexico isn’t pondering all options and that deporting undocumented US citizens would be low-hanging fruit. And it would be hard to sympathize given how generously the country has been handing out regularization residencies.
Pondering for sure and I would suspect the situation will become much worse than anticipated. No more special treatment for the expats, los Norte Americanos, and best to get the papers together and even prepare to get out if need be. It will probably be hard to get full price for your property in the near future. And who can blame the Mexicans? This must feel like the straw that broke the camel’s back…
If anything, la Presidenta Claudia will likely be more helpful to the Americans than most but she also has to be tough and needs to be sure she is doing the right thing for her people. She is in my opinion the best person for the job right now and I wish her well.
How is doing nothing to stop criminal cartels from killing her own inocient people,on top of saying nothing about them causing major problems for other countries,show she cares for her people
It’s a bit worrying and I think it will get uglier. Even if none of this comes to pass there will probably be a stronger anti-American sentiment than in the past and much like in the US, any fair skinned foreigner will be ‘an American’. Deporting residents who come in as visitors could be a thing but they bring in a lot of money and in a lot of cases own property in Mexico as well. Once war against the cartels begins it’s just going to ramp up the rhetoric.
It’s already getting ugly. Started before all of this. I’ve been trying to lay low myself. I already had two Uber drivers try to talk to me about what’s going on and they were pissed off. One of them got very emotional and they usually don’t talk about how they feel so I was sort of alarmed.Even today, a driver purposely blocked me in and refused to move and constantly glared at me. I ignored him like I’ve been doing before. Anyone coming to Mexico City be more aware than normal. Things will only get worse.
Trump and his administration, to be clear, has never said they were deporting Mexican citizens legally in the US. They said they were deporting all aliens who are illegally in the US. Mexico, as most countries, fine and deport people illegally in their countries.
You must not have heard the updates. They are deporting anyone who doesn’t possess on their person official documentation to prove they are a legal resident (temporary or permanent). They’ve been arresting native Americans and military personnel. Now everyone needs to make sure they have official documents to say they are a legal resident or citizen.
You are full of shit. No legal resident has, or will be deported.
False.
They’ve also been clear that they intend to go after people in the US legally (e.g. ending birthright citzenship (held up by a Federal court as that’s blatantly unconstitutional), ending temporary protective status (e.g. the Haitians so famously defamed by scurrilous lies by Trump and Vance), denaturalizing and deporting naturalized citizens, etc. Their rhetoric focuses on undocumented immigrants who have been accused of committing crimes (be their minor or major) but their true agenda is much darker and it’s all been telegraphed very openly.
Wish she WOULD deport the illegal criminal gringos!
👌😆🍿🍿🍺🍺
In Mexico Gringo criminals don’t get deported. They get killed. Mexico is mostly a Narco State. Even more than Colombia in it’s worst years
I ordered a ton of anti-Trump decals from Temu for my vehicle, and I will be wearing my “Canada” t-shirt 🤣🤣
Why don’t you just go to Canada? Oh wait! They don’t want you there. Nobody wants traitors!!!
excuse me Armandog, but Señor Trump is the traitor, having been elected by 28% of citizens of voting age (49% of those who bothered to vote), the fatman thinks he has the right to destroy the lives of millions of hardworking, honest, albeit “not yet” legal immigrants. It will not end well for him.
Timoteo, you sound like maybe you’re for those illegals. It’s people like you that need to choose a country. Either you are for the rule of law or not. President Trump was elected by a landslide. Winning every battleground state. If you’re a citizen of the USA, you are a traitor to your president. If not, you are welcome to leave.
He won by a few million votes. Hardly a landslide, but you keep drinking that coolaid. 😂
Trump won the Electoral College by a landslide: 312 vs. 226 but not the popular vote. Trump: 77,303,568 (49.8%) vs Harris: 75,019,230 (48.3%). That’s a margin of 2,284,338 votes (1.5%). This popular-vote margin is the second-closest since 1968. It shows just how closely divided the country is politically. Although some would like to believe that the election results gives Trump a mandate, based on the popular vote this is not the case.
“Either you are for the rule of law or not” says the fool who voted for a felon. smh
Amén…
Timoteo, your part of the fake news.only criminsls and those who harbor them will be deported.and its not about mexicans.people who are in the u.s.illegslly,who dont show up for their court hearings,have time to get their act together.if they dont,its their own fault.
Don’t ever believe a picture with text. If there’s not a link or citation, just ignore it. You can laugh, if that’s the purpose: things can be funny even if they’re not true.
If you care about the thing in question, then Google it. If there actually is a link or citation, follow it.
Unless it’s a screenshot of a full page of text, it’s guaranteed that even if “true” it’s been presented without full context, just due to it being a short summary or short quotation.
It’s insane how many people just take something with text as being true with absolutely no critical thought whatsoever.
If you have your temporary or permanent residency you should be ok. If you are like a lot of people I know and don’t get a FMM, Mexico has every right to ask you to leave. It’s their country, their laws.
Just say what state you are from and say it is up north like Canada. Works for me.
[email protected] Mexico is in North America.
[email protected] Delusional much?
Most Gringos in Mexico don’t bother to learn Spanish and later don’t understand what is legitimately being said or not said. Learn Spanish so you will never be confused about what is really being said by Mexican authorities.
If there are illegal gringos residing in Mexico, get them out. Laws need enforcement to have any meaning.
It doesn’t matter what she says. She is the President of Mexico and she’ll do whatever the drug/human smuggling cartels instruct (and pay her) to do. Anyone who thinks differently is mistaken and hasn’t spent any appreciable amount of time there, or away from the relatively few safe tourist zonas.
Talk all you want too and show your “ANGER” and get this “hate” out of your system. Then just “wait ” to see what is going to happen, when all this “deportation” is done. The Mexican people are on the “short” end” and re the ones’ that are going to feel the effects” the most. The WALL is going to be built and completed., The 25% “tariffs” are going to be put in place. The Mexican “economy” is not going to grow and “slow down” due to the “25% tariffs”, Foreign investments are going to decrease. The $6 billion dollars received every month in Mexico in “remittances” are going to “disappear” and “worst” of all, the Mexican “peso” is going to “crash”. Tourism will also start seeing an impact on all these changes. The US State Department has already warm Americans not to go to Mexico due to the Cartels
Only “time” in the next 6 months will tell who is “right” or “wrong”. Only the smart people in Mexico understand these “facts”.
BTW GRINGO is a RACIST SLUR…. It is mainly intended to mean a WHITE person…IDK about in Mexico but in most parts of Latin America it is intended and directed towards a White person. Especially one who doesn’t speak Spanish.
I spent some time in Mexico. It is a beautiful country with a lot of beautiful people. With that said, they are a proud people. I am afraid that Americans will face much adversity now and going forward. If I were there now, and I was there legally, paid my fees and contributed to the economy, I would leave. Mass anger is the avenue to making people do things that they wouldn’t ordinarily do. In time, karma willing, things will calm down and return to some normalacy. Just my humble opinion.
Facebook is a cesspool of disinformation and misinformation. Look elsewhere for facts. Given Trump’s aggressive behavior toward his North American neighbors, South America and Europe in his first 9 days in office, Americans living abroad should expect far more anti-American sentiment in the days and years to come. It’s frankly justified. The U.S. has become a rogue nation, and it’s embarrassing.
I would think it would be only fair to deport one American for every Mexican deported from the USA. There are a number of US citizens hiding out illegally in Mexico for a variety of reasons. Some are avoiding the tax man,the lawman, political beliefs or even a spouse (husband or wife).Some even due to differences in the cost of living.
Mexico is not “North America” or “South America.” Mexico is known as “Mezo America,” the word “Mezo” meaning “middle or central.” If Trump wants to rename the Gulf of Mexico (and, I am not in favor if this at all) it could be named the Gulf of the Americas (plural) since there is a north, a central, and a south America. Trump does these kinds of things to distract from the $&@! he is about to do to his own country. Trump will distract, confuse, and outright lie if it suits his purpose.