Honduras First Lady Disappointed Migrants Returning 'Empty-Handed'

Honduras’s first lady is disappointed that migrants from her country who were deported from the United States are returning “empty-handed.”

According to CNN affiliate Televicentro, Honduras first lady Ana Garcia de Hernandez said on Monday evening that the migrants who are coming back to her country from the United States are “people with dreams, with illusions, and who come (back) in very difficult conditions, who are seeing that their dreams were not made a reality, seeing their aspirations frustrated.”

“Many of them return empty-handed,” she reportedly lamented. “And the only thing they have are debts to pay because before leaving, they got rid of everything they had.”

On Monday, “a group of about 40 mothers and children deported from the United States to Honduras on a chartered flight” arrived in Honduras. And many vowed that they would “make the trek again” because “there is nothing left for them in Honduras.”

Honduras’s first lady was reportedly at the processing center where the migrants were given stipends and leads for potential jobs. 

As Breitbart News has been reporting, “Nearly 75% of the estimated 57,000 illegal immigrant children who have unlawfully entered the country since October of last year have come from Central America.” Federal officials expect at least 150,000 more to enter next year. And under a 2008 law, illegal immigrant children from countries other than Mexico or Canada cannot be immediately deported and must be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours of apprehension.

Migrants from Honduras who do make it to the United States and are able to remain in the country for some period of time send back remittances that help Honduras’s economy. As Breitbart News reported, a leaked internal Department of Homeland Security report found that “remittances to Honduras from those in the United States totaled $2.3 billion in 2010 and increased to $3.2 billion in 2013, which equaled 20% of Honduras’s GDP.”