Mexico has rejected a request from the Trump administration to accept a U.S. military aircraft carrying deported migrants. This follows two C-17 Transport aircraft flights that deported approximately 80 migrants to Guatemala.
The Mexican government however, denied permission for the U.S. military aircraft to land within its borders.
A U.S. official and a Mexican official confirmed the decision, which was first reported by news media, NBC News.
In a statement released late on Friday, Mexico’s foreign ministry said the country had a “very great relationship” with the U.S. and were cooperating on issues such as immigration but the Mexican official did not give a reason for denying the C-17 Transport Aircraft from landing.
President Trump’s administration earlier this week announced it was re-launching the “Remain in Mexico” program which forced non-Mexican asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their cases in the United States were resolved.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reacted to this Trump’s executive order by saying on Wednesday that such a move would require the country receiving the asylum-seekers to agree, and that Mexico had not done so.
Since Trump began his second term on Monday with the declaration of a national emergency along the U.S- Mexico’s shared border, relations between the two have been under wide scrutiny. Already, President Trump has ordered 1,500 additional U.S. troops to Mexico and officials have said thousands more could be deployed anytime soon.
The newly sworn in U.S president also declared Mexican drug cartels terrorist organizations, renamed the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America and threatened an across-the-board 25% tariff duty on Mexican goods as from February.
Mexico’s leader, Sheinbaum has sought to avoid escalating the situation and expressed openness toward welcoming Mexican nationals who are returned but the leftist leader has also said she does not agree with mass deportations and that Mexican immigrants are vital to the U.S. economy.
The use of U.S. military aircraft to carry out mass deportation flights is part of the Pentagon’s response to President Trump’s national emergency declaration on Monday.
In the past, U.S. military aircrafts have been used to relocate individuals from one country to another.
A U.S. official however, said that this will make it the first time in recent memory that U.S. military aircraft were used to fly migrants out of the country.
