Written by Phil Stewart and Diego Auré
WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico has rejected a request from President Donald Trump's administration to allow a U.S. military plane to screen migrants to land in the country.
US military aircraft carried out two similar flights, each with about 80 migrants, to Guatemala on Friday. The government was unable to move forward with a plan to land a C-17 transport aircraft in Mexico, however, after the country denied permission.
A US official and a Mexican official confirmed the decision, which was first reported by NBC News. The Mexican official did not provide a reason for the denial.
The US State Department, State Department and Mexico State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Relations between the United States and Mexico have come into sharp focus since Trump began his second term on Monday by declaring a national emergency along the two countries' shared border. An additional 1,500 US troops have been requested there so far, and officials said thousands could be deployed soon.
The president declared the Mexican drug cocktail terrorist organizations, renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and threatened a 25% duty on Mexican goods starting in February.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum sought to avoid escalating the situation and even expressed openness toward the returned Mexican nationals.
But the leftist leader said she disagreed with mass deportations and that Mexican immigrants were vital to the U.S. economy.
The use of US military aircraft to carry out deportation flights is part of the Pentagon's response to Trump's national emergency declaration on Monday.
In the past, US military aircraft have been used to transport personnel from one country to another, such as during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
An American official said that this is the first time in recent memory that American military aircraft have been used to fly migrants out of the United States.
The Pentagon said the US military will provide flights to deport more than 5,000 migrants held by US authorities in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.
Also on Friday, Guatemala received a third flight of about 80 migrants deported on a chartered commercial plane, Guatemalan authorities told Reuters.
