AP – A United States (US) Air Force jet with 80 migrants that left Texas for Guatemala charted a path around Mexico because it couldn’t fly over the country, according to a US official. The Mexican government said it never denied permission.
The flight from Fort Bliss, an Army base in El Paso, was scheduled to take about seven hours, nearly twice as long as a direct route, because the military plane could not fly over Mexico, said US Border Patrol spokesperson Orlando Marrero. Eight children were aboard.
Mexico’s interior secretary said in a brief statement that the US government never asked permission to send the flight and that it has no ban.
The flight, with migrants bound at their wrists and ankles, reflects a growing role for the US armed forces in helping enforce immigration laws.
“The message that we have for those people is that if you cross the border illegally, we are going to deport you to your country of origin in a matter of hours,” Marrero said.The Trump administration has used military aircraft to deport people to Guatemala, Ecuador and Colombia, a departure from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s previous practice to employ charter and commercial planes.
“There are some countries that don’t like military planes coming into their territory,” said US Rep Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who represents a Texas border district.
“It’s something that logistically has to be worked out with the country before, because you don’t want to have a plane turned around in midair.”
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro refused two US military planes with migrants, prompting Trump to announce 25 per cent tariffs on Colombian exports.
Colombia backed off and said it would accept the migrants but fly them on Colombian military flights that Petro said would guarantee them dignity. The Pentagon began deploying active-duty troops to the border last week but it was unclear to what extent they will break from supporting roles they have played under presidents since George W Bush, including ground and aerial surveillance, building barriers and repairing vehicles.
An 1878 law prohibits military involvement in civilian law enforcement, but Trump and his aides have signalled the president may invoke wartime powers.
Trump said in his Inauguration Day order declaring a border emergency that the Defence Department may assist with detention and transportation, two enormous cost drivers.
Trump ordered that a US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be used to detain migrants, saying it could hold up to 30,000 people. That would nearly double ICE’s current detention capacity.
Director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International Yael Schacher said using military aircraft for deportations was uncommon but “largely symbolic”.
