The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Mexico announced Tuesday the closure of four of its offices in the country, citing US President Donald Trump’s cuts to overseas aid as the cause. According to Giovanni Lepri, UNHCR's representative in Mexico, the closures follow a 60 percent reduction in the budget for the agency’s operations in the country enforced by the Trump administration.
More than 190 employees have been laid off and offices have been shut down in the states of Jalisco and Chiapas. Chiapas, located on Mexico’s southeastern border with Guatemala, lost two offices in the cities of Palenque and Tenosique.
Humanitarian aid accounts for just 1.2 percent of the US federal budget but American funds drive global development while also serving as the country's soft power abroad.
The region is critical to migration flows in the Western Hemisphere, with 67 percent of asylum requests in 2024 filed in Chiapas alone. Since taking office on January 20, President Trump has prioritised sweeping cuts to public spending. These were implemented through the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by billionaire Elon Musk.
The department has targeted what it considers unnecessary expenditures, including foreign aid. Trump had vowed to eliminate $60 billion in US foreign assistance and dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID). US foreign aid has played a key role in supporting refugees transiting through and resettling in Mexico.
According to the latest UNHCR funding report from November 2024, the United States contributed 86 percent of the agency’s budget for operations in Mexico, amounting to $58 million for the previous fiscal year. The Mexican government reported Tuesday that 38,757 people have been deported to Mexico since Trump took office, including 33,311 Mexican nationals and 5,446 foreigners.
