Secrecy, discretion and fear of a new crisis: The first deportation flights to Mexico in the Trump era
EL PAÍS is following the routes, planes and companies behind the repatriation of hundreds of immigrants to the Felipe Ángeles International Airport
“Promises made, promises kept. Deportation flights have begun.” This is how the White House announced the beginning of mass expulsions of immigrants by air on January 24, just four days after Donald Trump took office, along with a photograph of a line of people, handcuffed and shackled, boarding a plane. These images were at the center of the diplomatic crisis between the United States and Colombia two days later, amid complaints about the conditions of the transfers and trade threats. In Mexico, on the other hand, repatriation flights have maintained a low profile. President Claudia Sheinbaum broke the silence last Monday and acknowledged that four planes had been received during Trump’s first week in the Oval Office. Little else has come to light. The state in which migrants arrived in Mexican territory, how long they had been living in the United States, and where they have been transferred are unknown.
