Money Migration

President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown has led to a surge in remittances being sent from the U.S. to Latin America

- by LEONARDO FELDMAN and JESUS MESA

FEAR OF DEPORTATION HAS LEFT undocumented workers in the United States scrambling to wire home as much money as they can before they're potentially forced to leave. The result: a remittance surge that's funneling billions of dollars into some of Latin America's most fragile economies.

“I’ve been sending more money back home because you never really know what could happen,” Kevin M., an undocumented Ecuadorian restaurant worker in Manhattan, told Newsweek. “I still have a few debts to pay in Ecuador, and I don’t want to fall behind.”

Since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, the administration says it has removed over 2 million people, 400,000 of whom were deported. For many migrants, this has created a new financial motivation.

Remittances from the U.S. to Latin America are now on pace to hit $161 billion this year, up 8 percent from 2024, according to fintech outlet PYMNTS. In countries like Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Haiti, money sent from abroad is often the largest source of household income. Honduras leads with a 25 percent increase in remittances in the first eight months of 2025 alone. “There is definitely a family decision on the side of migrants to send as much as they can now,” said Manuel Orozco, director of the migration, remittances and development program at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, D.C. “They won’t be able to continue sending money once they return to their homeland.”

Cashing Out

Orozco said the average remittance sent from the U.S. has climbed from around $300 to nearly $400. “It’s unlikely to continue in 2026 because the average that migrants are sending is exceeding their income limitations,” he said.