Mexico reportedly rejects a US military jet that deports migrants

According to a U.S. source and a Mexican official who spoke to Reuters, Mexico has turned down a request from the administration of President Donald Trump to permit a U.S. military plane that is deporting migrants to land there.
On Friday, two identical flights carrying around 80 migrants each were conducted by U.S. military planes to Guatemala. However, Mexico declined permission, therefore the administration was unable to proceed with its plan to have a C-17 transport plane land there.

The decision, initially reported by NBC News, was confirmed by a Mexican official and a U.S. official.

In a statement released late Friday, Mexico’s foreign ministry noted that the two countries had a “very great relationship” and worked together on matters like immigration.

“When it comes to repatriations, we will always accept the arrival of Mexicans to our territory with open arms,” declared the ministry.

The foreign ministry made no note of the occurrence, and the Mexican official did not provide an explanation for the refusal of permission to land.

Earlier this week, Trump’s administration declared it was resuming the “Remain in Mexico” program, which required non-Mexican asylum claimants to remain in Mexico until their U.S. cases were settled.

Claudia Sheinbaum, the president of Mexico, stated on Wednesday that Mexico had not agreed to such a transfer and that the receiving nation would have to do so.

Requests for comment were not immediately answered by the Pentagon or the U.S. State Department.

Since Trump declared a national emergency at the shared border between the United States and Mexico on Monday, the relationship between the two countries has come into sharp focus. According to authorities, Obama has already ordered 1,500 more U.S. forces there, and thousands more might be sent there shortly.

The president renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, designated Mexican drug cartels terrorist organizations, and threatened to impose a 25% general levy on Mexican imports starting in February.

Sheinbaum has made an effort to prevent the issue from getting worse and has stated that he is willing to make accommodations for repatriated Mexican citizens.

However, the Marxist leader has also stated that Mexican immigration are essential to the American economy and that she opposes wholesale deportations.

The Pentagon’s response to Trump’s Monday proclamation of a national emergency includes using U.S. military planes to conduct deportation flights.

In the past, like as during the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan in 2021, people have been moved from one nation to another using U.S. military planes.

According to a U.S. official, this was the first occasion in recent memory that migrants were flown out of the nation using U.S. military aircraft.

More than 5,000 immigrants detained by U.S. officials in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California, will be deported by U.S. military planes, according to the Pentagon.

According to Guatemalan officials who spoke to Reuters, the country received a third flight of about 80 deported migrants aboard a commercial aircraft that was hired on Friday.