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.”
The Mexican Embassy did not immediately return a request for comment.
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, and Mexico declined to give its consent.
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.
Megan Lebowitz and Julia Ainsley contributed.
