A U.S. Air Force jet with 80 migrants that left Texas for Guatemala on Thursday charted a path around Mexico because it couldn't fly over the country, according to a U.S. official. The Mexican government said it never denied permission.
Trump has made it a priority to deter migrants from entering the U.S. illegally and many of the aid programs he halted are funded through the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, which provides humanitarian assistance to those fleeing persecution, crisis, or violence.
A US Air Force jet carrying 80 deportees from Texas to Guatemala avoided Mexican airspace, highlighting military's increasing role in immigration enforcement.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said early Friday morning deportation flights had begun, marking the first deportation flights using military aircraft since President Dwight Eisenhower was in office, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
The deportation flight was blocked from leaving the US after two Air Force C-17 flights, each carrying about 80 deportees to Guatemala, successfully took off Thursday night.
The Trump administration's use of U.S. military aircraft to return deportees has raised alarms throughout Latin America.
Mexico reportedly denied access to land for a U.S. military plane that was slated to return deportees to the country, according to reports.
Mexico has received non-Mexican migrants from the United States in the past week, and Central American nations could also reach similar agreements with the U.S. to accept deportees from other countries,
This was the first time in recent memory that military aircraft were used to fly migrants out of the country, one U.S. official said.
Tensions escalate as Mexico denies landing clearance for a U.S. military plane carrying deported migrants, disrupting a key piece of Trump’s immigration str
Two military jets landed in Guatemala City on Friday carrying deported migrants from Tucson, Ariz., and El Paso, according to local migration authorities and the American Embassy in Guatemala.
The Mexican government has criticized President Donald Trump's unilateral immigration actions, and the landing would have required Mexico's assistance.