Amid a statistical controversy between Mexico and the United States, President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo rejected the data released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which claimed that 1.6 million migrants had “voluntarily left” the country since Donald Trump took office on January 20, 2025.
Sheinbaum stated that the real number of Mexican repatriations, so far, stands at 108,813, with 101,009 occurring directly during Trump’s new term. She stressed that these figures are supported by the “repatriation letters” given to nationals upon their return to Mexico.
The DHS maintains that about 1.6 million people left the U.S. voluntarily (or were “self-deported”) in less than 200 days, according to official statements issued in mid-August 2025. However, the Mexican government argues that this estimate does not distinguish between those who actually returned to Mexico with documentation and those involved in unverified migratory movements.
The official U.S. metric includes data on repatriations handled by ICE, the Border Patrol, and other customs and immigration offices. Critics, however, warn that many of those “departures” were the result of internal administrative processes or rapid expulsions under rules such as Title 42.
The President also recalled that the highest number of deportations of Mexican nationals occurred during the administration of Bill Clinton (1993–2001), with 7.4 million repatriated.
She explained that, by contrast, George H. W. Bush recorded 4.6 million, George W. Bush the same figure, Barack Obama 2.8 million, Donald Trump in his first term 766,000, Joe Biden 891,000, and so far in 2025, with Trump once again in office, the figure barely exceeds 101,000.
Sheinbaum also asserted that border crossings have decreased significantly and that many of the current cases do not involve Mexican nationals.
According to her data, in December 2023 as many as 15,000 daily border crossings were recorded, while at present the figure has dropped to between 200 and 300 per day.
That claim finds partial support in U.S. operational data. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that in March 2025 historically low apprehension figures were recorded at the southwest border — an average of 264 daily detentions nationwide — representing a 94% decrease compared to the same month in 2024.
Although official DHS and CBP records are public — and the monthly migration tables are subject to systematic review — many specialists agree that aggregate figures do not always differentiate between documented repatriations, expedited removals, and informal or internal migratory movements.
Some scholars warn that concepts such as “self-deportation” or “voluntary departure” can obscure systemic pressures, since not all individuals leave of their own free will or with full guarantees.
In this sense, the data presented by Sheinbaum aim to highlight the difference between what the Mexican Government can certify (through repatriation documents) and what the U.S. presents as mass departures.
Mexican Press Agency is part of ALMA, which is dedicated to news and information about Mexico and Mexicans in the United States and is a fiscally sponsored project of Social Focus, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Redwood City, California.
