Honduran authorities expressed concern over the rising numbers of deportations of Honduran nationals from the U.S. at a migrant forum held in Tegucigalpa, capital of the Central American country.
In August nearly 2,300 Hondurans were deported, well above the monthly average of approximately 1,500 or 1,600 deportations over recent months.
Members of Honduras’ non-profit sector and government representatives, gathering to mark the Day of the Migrant, complained that the U.S. has failed to follow through on President Barack Obama’s plan to halt deportation of non-criminal aliens.
Although Obama announced his intentions publicly in mid-August, the changed policy is to be implemented out on a case-by-case, discretionary basis.
The deportation of foreign nationals who have served sentences in the U.S. has been a driver of gang violence in countries like El Salvador, where convicts schooled in Los Angeles gang tactics returned to man criminal groups like the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).