Air Force deportation flight skirts Mexican airspace to Guatemala as military’s border role grows

A U.S. Air Force jet deported 80 migrants shackled at their wrists and ankles to Guatemala on Thursday, detouring around Mexican airspace because U.S. military overflights require more advance notice than the Trump administration can give as it rapidly accelerates deportations.

The flight reflects a growing role for the U.S. armed forces in helping carry out immigration laws as the Trump administration looks to supplement the use of civilian charter flights by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The flight from Fort Bliss, an Army base in El Paso, Texas, took more than six hours — nearly twice as long as a direct route, according to a flight tracking website.

Avoiding Mexican airspace had been routine for the U.S. military even before its aircraft began assisting with deportations, the U.S. Defense Department’s Transportation Command said on Friday.

Military flights over Mexico need to get diplomatic clearance at least a week in advance, according to TransCom, which said it is planning and carrying out deportation flights in much shorter timeframes.

Yael Schacher, director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International, said using military aircraft for deportations was uncommon but “largely symbolic.” The Trump administration has used military aircraft to deport people to Guatemala, Ecuador and Colombia.

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The Mexican government said Thursday it never received a request from the U.S. seeking permission for the flight to cross Mexican airspace.

On the tarmac at Fort Bliss, the people being deported sat in long rows inside the plane’s cavernous cargo hold, wearing casual clothing and surgical masks. U.S. Board Patrol agents and military servicemembers stood nearby at the top of the cargo ramp before the plane took off into the chilly winter air.

“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,” U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Orlando Marrero said Thursday.

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who represents a Texas border district, said it makes sense that other nations would want advance notice of Air Force overflights.

“There are some countries that don’t like military planes coming into their territory,” Cuellar said. “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.”

On Sunday, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro refused two U.S. military planes with migrants, prompting U.S. President Donald Trump to announce 25% 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 signaled the president may invoke wartime powers. Trump said in his Inauguration Day order declaring a border emergency that the Defense Department may assist with detention and transportation, two enormous cost drivers.

Trump on Thursday ordered that a U.S. 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.

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Associated Press journalists Luis Torres in El Paso, Texas, and Christopher Sherman in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

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This story was first published on Jan. 30, 2025. It was updated on Jan. 31, 2025, to correct that information about the plane’s flight path was gathered from a flight tracking website, not a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman.