More: El Paso County affirms support for constitutional rights of migrants
Costly military deportation flights
President Trump quickly moved to involve the U.S. military in his deportations plans. The administration began to use C-17 cargo planes to carry out removal flights within weeks of assuming office.
There have been at least 21 military deportations flights in total, as of Feb. 21, with 11 flying to Guatemala.
Three U.S. military planes have also been used to remove African, Asian and Middle East migrants from the United States to Panama, as reported by USA TODAY.
The use of military flights and the deportations to Panama are unprecedented, as Schacher points out.
Military deportation flights
Here are all the military deportation flights that have flown since Trump took office:
Jan. 24 – El Paso, Texas to Guatemala City – 80 Guatemalans
Jan. 24 – Tucson, Arizona to Guatemala City – 80 Guatemalans
Jan. 27 – El Paso, Texas to Guatemala City – 64 Guatemalans
Jan. 28 – Harlingen, Texas to Guayaquil, Ecuador – 80 Ecuadorians
Jan. 30 – El Paso, Texas to Guatemala City – 80 Guatemalans
Jan. 31 – Harlingen, Texas to San Pedro Sula, Honduras – 78 Hondurans
Jan. 31 – Harlingen, Texas to San Pedro Sula, Honduras – 48 Hondurans
San Pedro Sula, Honduras to Lima, Peru – 34 Peruvians
Feb. 4 – San Diego, California to Punjab, India – 104 Indians
Feb. 4 – El Paso, Texas to Guatemala City – 78 Guatemalans
Feb. 6 – Harlingen, Texas to Guatemala City, Guatemala – 48 Guatemalans
Guatemala City, Guatemala to Guayaquil, Ecuador – 35 Ecuadorians
Feb. 7 – El Paso, Texas to Guatemala City, Guatemala – 68 Guatemalans
Feb. 10 – Harlingen, Texas to San Pedro Sula, Honduras – 44 Hondurans
San Pedro Sula, Honduras to Guatemala City, Guatemala – 31 Guatemalans
Feb. 13 – Harlingen, Texas to Guayaquil, Ecuador – Unknown
Guayaquil, Ecuador to Guatemala City, Guatemala – 60 Guatemalans
Feb. 13 – San Diego, California to Punjab, India – 119 Indians
Feb. 14 – San Diego, California to Punjab, India – 157 Indians
Feb. 15 – El Paso, Texas to Guatemala City, Guatemala – 64 Guatemalans
Guatemala City, Guatemala to Lima, Peru – 16 Peruvians
Feb. 21 – El Paso, Texas to Guatemala City, Guatemala – 78 Guatemalans
Latin America picks up migrants
The use of military planes to remove handcuffed migrants generated outcry in Latin America.
Two military deportation flights to Colombia were forced to return to the U.S. after Colombia denied them entry, sparking political tension between Colombian President Gustavo Petro and Trump. Colombia agreed to receive the deportees if they arrived on Colombian military planes.
There have been four Colombian military deportation flights from the United States since Jan 26.
The government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela too has sent at least two planes to El Paso to return Venezuelan migrants deported from the U.S.
Military deportations to Guantanamo
The Trump administration began moving migrants they accused of being criminals the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Feb. 4.
Cartwright of Witness at the Border has tracked at least 10 flights to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since.
Each C17 flight has left from Fort Bliss, El Paso.
It is currently unknown how many migrants are currently detained in the U.S. Naval base that was used to incarcerate accused terrorists.
The Trump administration has claimed that they are sending only the “worst of the worst” to Guantanamo, but as USA TODAY reports, not all of those being sent to the remote island are criminals.
The migrants were not held long at the U.S. Naval base. The United States flew 177 Venezuelan migrants to Honduras before Venezuelan government planes returned them to the South American country on Feb. 21, according to Reuters.
Contract deportation flights
Commercial charter companies like GlobalX, Eastern Air Express and World Atlantic Airlines have continued to carry out flights contracted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
There have been over 110 chartered deportation flights since Jan. 22.
The flights have primarily departed El Paso, Harlingen, San Antonio, Houston and Laredo, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; Alexandria, Louisiana; and Miami, Florida. The majority of these flights have returned migrants to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, as well as to Ecuador and Mexico.
The Trump administration began deporting mostly Asian migrants to Costa Rica on Feb. 20 on commercial flights. The first 135 migrants arrived as part of an agreement between the government of Costa Rica and the United States to house and repatriate migrants.
Exact numbers of migrants deported to Latin America are difficult to obtain.
Only Guatemala has provided information on the number of their citizens deported since Jan. 20, with the Guatemalan Immigration Institute reporting that nearly 2,800 Guatemalans have been deported on 30 flights in Trump’s first 30 days, as of Feb. 20. There were 61,680 Guatemalans deported in all of 2024, with 6,424 being deported in January 2024 alone.
The governments of Honduras and Ecuador have reported the number of deportees since the beginning of the year. These governments report that as of Feb. 14 there have been around 2,800 Hondurans and nearly 1,300 Ecuadorians deported on both commercial charters and military deportations flights.
Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times and can be reached at:[email protected];@palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social on Bluesky.
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Publish date : 2025-02-20 02:11:00
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