00:00Following the U.S. government's announcement to end temporary protector status, Honduras Central Bank has reported an increase in remittances.
00:08Experts believe this is part of a plan for the mass return of Hondurans.
00:14Gerardo Torres Zelaya reports from Tegucigalpa.
00:18There are more than a million Hondurans in the United States, the majority living without legal status.
00:23The total remittances sent from that country to Hondurans in 2025 amounted $12.212 billion, and the projection for this
00:33year is even higher, establishing this flow as a primary source of national income, surpassing coffee, tourism, industry, and services.
00:42For the United States, migrant labor has been significant because it has allowed for cost reductions.
00:53Migrants perform labor-intensive jobs requiring low skill levels and offering low wages by U.S. standards.
01:02Since Trump's return, we have seen a rise in remittances, an increase of 24% or 25% last year.
01:16This has been attributed to a precautionary motive, as it is anticipated that mass deportations would cause remittance flows to
01:25drop, thereby impacting the national economy,
01:30not only regarding the money that would no longer be in families' pockets, but also concerning international reserves.
01:37For nearly 30 years, more than 50,000 Honduran families benefited from Temporary Protected Status, TPS, implemented following the impact
01:47of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and the rise of violence in Central America during the 1990s.
01:53They are known as Tepecianos.
01:55For Juan Salgado, who was recently deported from the United States, Tepecianos always enjoyed better conditions in that country, and
02:04many are already preparing to return.
02:08In my neighborhood, I know several people who have just returned after spending 20 years over there.
02:14Now they have the means to live and get by here.
02:17They even have enough to start a small business.
02:20As for my family members in the United States, they're coming back this December.
02:26The house they have here in Honduras is a two-story home with a car.
02:30It's a really nice house.
02:31Their money won't go as far over there anymore, and they don't want to live in fear of persecution.
02:38The country lacks a strategy to maintain the flow of foreign currency once that inflow drops off.
02:44Trump's racist policies have instilled fear in migrants who had already settled in that country.
02:50Yet his policies regarding Latin America are generating new waves of migration characterized by even greater precariousness.
03:01Upon realizing they could lose their money, since their accounts might be frozen, or they could be pursued and deported,
03:13TPS holders look for alternatives.
03:17One such option is repatriating their capital, and we have seen an increase in remittances during this period.
03:24The majority of remittances entering the country in recent decades have gone toward consumption rather than investment,
03:32creating an economy highly dependent on the United States.
03:35For Teresa in English, from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Gerardo Torres Zelaya.
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