US military aircraft with deported migrants lands in Guatemala, say officials
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Guatemalan migrants arriving at La Aurora Air Force Base on a deportation flight from the US.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump forged ahead with military deportation flights on Jan 27, sending another planeload of migrants to Guatemala a day after coming to the brink of a trade war with Colombia after it refused to let the C-17 aircraft land.
Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the aircraft landed in Guatemala on the afternoon of Jan 27 after a flight from Texas. A Guatemalan official told Reuters that the military transport plane had 64 people on board.
Reuters was first to report the Jan 27 flight to Guatemala.
As US-Colombia tensions simmer, Bogota announced on Jan 27 that it was sending Colombian Air Force planes to the US to pick up migrants who Mr Trump tried to deport.
The move, which Colombia said was a “win-win”, cast doubt on White House assertions on Jan 26 that Bogota had relented to Mr Trump’s demands, agreeing to accept US military deportation flights.
Mr Trump, speaking at his Doral golf club to Republican lawmakers, vowed his unprecedented use of military aircraft for deportations would continue and countries that protest would face punishing tariffs.
“For the first time in history, we are locating and loading illegal aliens into military aircraft and flying them back to the places from which they came,” Mr Trump said to applause.
“We’re respected again, after years of laughing at us, like we’re stupid people.”
The Jan 27 flight is the third to have successfully landed in Guatemala since the start of the military deportation flights last week.
To date, Guatemala appears to be the only country to have received military flights with migrants.
On Jan 26, Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the military deportation flights and revoked authorisation for two C-17 aircraft to land in his country after they had taken off from California.
Mr Trump responded immediately, threatening severe tariffs and sanctions on Colombia as punishment.
“As you saw yesterday, we’ve made it clear to every country that they will be taking back the people that we’re sending out... and if they don’t, they’ll pay a high economic price,” Mr Trump said.
Colombia issued a conciliatory statement on the evening of Jan 27 that ended the stand-off.
A trade war could have had crippling consequences for Colombia, which counts the US as its largest trading partner. That is largely due to a 2006 free trade agreement that generated US$33.8 billion (45.7 billion) in two-way trade in 2023, according to US Census Bureau data.
The use of US military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon’s response to Mr Trump’s national emergency declaration on immigration last week.
The Pentagon said last week that the US military would provide flights for the deportations of more than 5,000 immigrants held by US authorities in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.
In the past, US military aircraft have been used to relocate individuals from one country to another, such as during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
This has been the first time in memory that US military aircraft were used to fly migrants out of the country, one US official said.
Mr Trump has also directed the US military to help with border security, issued a broad ban on asylum and took steps to restrict citizenship for children born on US soil. REUTERS
