EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — A military aircraft carrying 80 migrants from Guatemala departed on Thursday morning, Jan. 30, from Biggs Army Airfield.
KTSM crews were at the scene before the flight departed. While our cameras did not capture the moment that migrants boarded the plane, some of them were already seated with face masks on, with what appeared to be restraints on their hands and feet.
These deportation flights are part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan. The use of military aircraft is a result of an executive order signed last week.
“If you come to the United States and illegally cross the border in violation of eight U.S. Code 1325, you will be removed. This is a significant consequence because for some people, it takes 30, 60, 90 days and a lot of resources to travel to the southern border before illegally crossing. We can have you back in your home country in seven hours,” Hamid Nikseresht, Border Patrol special operations supervisor said.
KTSM spoke to Congresswoman Veronica Escobar earlier this week, she said that using Military aircraft for deportations is unusual.
“Military planes have not been used before because you don’t need them. ICE has an entire fleet of airplanes. And in fact, the ICE airplanes carry more people than that C-17,” Escobar said.
“So, I think there were 80 people, somewhere between 75 and 80 people on that particular flight. Normally it’s a minimum of 125 people on those ICE flights,” she added.
This is not the first deportation flight to depart from El Paso. Officials add that more are scheduled in the coming days.
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