Mexico has refused to allow a US military flight to deport migrants, sources told Reuters.

By Phil Stewart and Diego Ore

WASHINGTON/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A U.S. military plane has turned down a request by President Donald Trump’s administration to allow a migrant plane to land in the country, a U.S. official and a Mexican official told Reuters.

US military planes flew two identical flights to Guatemala on Friday, each carrying about 80 refugees. However, the government was unable to move forward with plans to land the C-17 transport aircraft in Mexico after the country was denied permission.

A US official and a Mexican official confirmed the decision, which was first reported by NBC News. The Mexican authorities did not provide a reason for the rejection.

The US State Department, the Pentagon and Mexico’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S.-Mexico relations have been in the spotlight since Trump began his second term on Monday, declaring a national emergency along the two countries’ shared border. It has ordered 1,500 more U.S. troops so far, with officials saying thousands more could be deployed soon.

The president has declared Mexico’s drug cartels terrorist organizations, naming the Gulf of Mexico to America’s Gulf, and has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on Mexican goods beginning in February.

Mexico’s president, Claudia Schinbaum, has expressed her openness to avoid escalating the situation and to welcome back Mexican citizens.

But the left-leaning leader disagrees with mass deportations and says Mexican immigrants are vital to the U.S. economy.

The use of US military aircraft to conduct evacuation 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 move individuals from one country to another, as was the case with the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

It is the first time in recent memory that US military aircraft have been used to fly migrants out of the US, a US official said.

The Pentagon has announced that the U.S. military will fly more than 5,000 refugees detained by U.S. authorities in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.

Guatemala received a third flight of about 80 deported migrants on a chartered commercial plane on Friday, Guatemalan officials told Reuters.