Topline
Mexico refused to accept a U.S. deportation flight Thursday, according to NBC News, doing so after the Trump administration started the “largest deportation operation” in U.S. history and a series of deportation flights.
The flight was scheduled to take off Thursday night. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Key Facts
A U.S. military plane was blocked from beginning its flight to Mexico on Thursday night, according to NBC News, which cited two unnamed U.S. defense officials and a third person familiar with the matter.
NBC reported it was not immediately clear why the flight was denied, though it did note rising tensions between Mexico and the U.S. as President Donald Trump has threatened to impose lofty tariffs on the neighboring country.
The flight was blocked after two other planes, Air Force C-17s bound for Guatemala, flew about 160 deportees out of the U.S., NBC reported.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said early Friday morning deportation flights had begun, marking the first deportation flights using military aircraft since President Dwight Eisenhower was in office, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
The Mexican Embassy and the White House did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
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Big Number
538. That is how many arrests U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made Thursday.
Key Background
The Trump administration said this week deportations will ramp up, with cities like Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., and Miami reportedly in its crosshairs. However, ICE and Border Patrol agents have been instructed to immediately focus on people who cross the border without authorization. Trump bolstered his anti-immigration operation with executive orders that will send 1,500 military troops to the border and prohibit advance appointments made by migrants, forcing them to wait in Mexico in the meantime. Trump also signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship in the U.S., though the policy, which automatically gives citizenship to anyone born in the U.S., is in limbo after a federal judge in Washington granted a request from Democratic state attorneys general to block Trump’s order.
Further Reading
Mexico refuses to accept a U.S. deportation flight (NBC News)
Deportations Have Started, White House Says: Everything To Know About Trump’s Plan (Forbes)
