WASHINGTON — Mexico denied a U.S. military plane access to land Thursday, at least temporarily frustrating the Trump administration's plans to deport immigrants to the country, according to two U.S. defense officials and a third person familiar with the situation.
Two Guatemala-bound Air Force C-17s, carrying about 80 people apiece, flew deportees out of the U.S. Thursday night, the sources said. The third flight, slotted for Mexico, never took off.
It was not immediately clear why Mexico blocked the flight, but tensions between the U.S. and Mexico, neighbors and longtime allies, have risen since President Donald Trump won the November election. Trump has threatened to slap 25% across-the-board tariffs on Mexico in retaliation for migrants crossing the border the countries share. But he has not yet put them in effect.
A White House official said in a text message that “the flights thing was an administrative issue and was quickly rectified.”
After the publication of this article, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted, "Yesterday, Mexico accepted a record 4 deportation flights in 1 day!"
A White House official did not clarify whether they were military, commercial or private flights.
A Department of Homeland Security official later told NBC News that the four deportation flights accepted by Mexico on Thursday were run by Ice Air Operations and were government-chartered flights, not military aircraft.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum's government has said it opposes Trump taking "unilateral" action to implement restrictive immigration standards — including the reinstatement of a "remain in Mexico" policy that forces migrants to stay in that country while they await adjudication of asylum claims. Flying deportees into a foreign country requires the cooperation of that nation's government.
In a statement, Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not go into detail on why the U.S. plane was not allowed to land in the country.
“Mexico has a very good relationship with the United States government and we cooperate with respect for our sovereignty on a wide range of issues, including migration," the statement read. "When it comes to repatriations, we will always welcome the arrival of Mexicans to our territory with open arms. Mexico embraces you.”
On Friday, Guatemala received three flights from the U.S. with Guatemalan nationals who had been sent back to their home country. A spokesperson for the Guatemalan Migration Institute told NBC News that two of Friday's flights were on military aircraft and the other was on a non-military plane. The total number of Guatemalans who arrived in Guatemala City from the three flights was about 265.
The military deportation flights are part of a broader Trump administration crackdown on illegal immigration that has been set in motion with executive orders signed in his first week in office. During his campaign, he vowed to stop illegal immigration into the U.S. and pursue a campaign of mass deportation of undocumented immigrants already living in the country.
In addition to the flights, he has enlisted the military to beef up its presence on the border with an additional 1,500 troops.
