Authors Phil Stewart and Diego Oré
Washington/Mexico City (Reuters) – Mexico rejected President Donald Trump’s administration request to allow an US military aircraft deporting migrants to land in the country, the American and Mexican official said.
American military aircraft carried two similar flights on Friday, each with about 80 migrants, according to Guatemala. However, the government could not continue the plan for a C-17 transport aircraft to Mexico after the land rejected the permit.
An American official and a Mexican official confirmed the decision on which NBC News was first reported. The Mexican official did not cite the reason for the rejection.
The American State Department, Pentagon and Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to the commentary requests.
The US and Mexico relations have come to the focus since Trump began his second term on Monday by declaring an extraordinary situation along the common border of the two countries. He has so far ordered 1,500 additional US soldiers there, and officials said that another thousand could soon be deployed.
The president declared Mexican drugstores with terrorist organizations, renamed the Gulf of Mexico into the US Bay and threatened a 25% general customs on Mexican goods starting from February.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum sought to avoid escalating the situation and even expressed openness to the care of Mexican citizens who return.
But the left -wing head said she did not agree with mass deportations and that Mexican immigrants were vital to the American economy.
The use of US military aircraft to perform deportation flights is part of the Pentagon response to Trump’s proclamation of the outstanding situation on Monday.
In the past, US military aircraft were used to move individuals from one country to another, as during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan 2021.
This has been the first time lately that US military aircraft have been used to transport migrants from the US, a US official said.
Pentagon said the US army would provide flights to deport more than 5,000 immigrants that US authorities hold in El Pas in Texas and San Diego, California.
Guatemala also received a third flight with about 80 deported migrants in a rented commercial aircraft on Friday, Guatema -based Routers said.
