Although Ecuador is expecting thousands of returning migrants, it looks to improve relations with the U.S.

By Mike Richey

Although Ecuador is bracing for the return of tens-of-thousands of its migrants in the U.S., current and former government officials say the country expects “respectful and even favorable treatment” from the new U.S. administration.

former Ecuador ambassador to the U.S. Luis Gallegos

“Obviously, this is a time of radical uncertainty for Latin American countries in terms of their relationship to the U.S., but I believe Ecuador’s standing is quite good at this point,” says former ambassador to the U.S. Luis Gallegos. “I expect to see the relationship between our countries to be maintained and even strengthened,” he said.

Former deputy Interior Minister Jorge Borja agrees. “Efforts to improve relations with the U.S. have been ongoing for seven or eight years and I think this puts Ecuador in a good position to work with the [Donald] Trump government. “This improvement has been underway with the last three Ecuadorian governments.”

Borja added: “You will see serious conflicts in areas like trade and security with some governments in the region, but Ecuador looks to avoid these.”

How many Ecuadorians who will be repatriated from the U.S. is an open question, says Milton Quinde, spokesman for the Ecuador’s Foreign Ministry. “The new [U.S.] government announced Saturday it expects to deport 1.2 million, and our embassy in Washington, D.C., was informed that about 34,000 Ecuadorians are on the deportation list,” he said. “We believe there are many more undocumented Ecuadorians up there, about 400,000, so we expect deportations to increase.”

The scene from a U.S. military flight of deportees to Colombia on Monday.

In terms of total numbers of undocumented migrants in the U.S., Quinde says Ecuador ranks far below Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and several other Latin American countries.

According to Quinde, Foreign Minister María Sommerfeld has been in touch with U.S. State Department officials and expects “dignified and respectful” treatment of Ecuadorians who are forcibly deported from the U.S. “We understand that some of these people have been convicted of crimes and we will treat these cases separately,” he said.

Borja expects joint operations with Ecuador against the drug trade to increase under the Trump administration. “Washington is aware of the emphasis we are putting on fighting the drug cartels and this is also a priority with the U.S. government,” he said. “I expect to see significant energy and funding applied to this effort in the coming months through coordinated projects.”