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

By Phil Stewart and Diego Ore

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

US military aircraft 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.

Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Friday that the country has “very good relations” with the United States and cooperates on issues such as immigration.

“Regarding repatriation, we always welcome Mexican citizens to our region,” the minister said.

Mexican officials did not disclose the reason for the land permit denial, while the Foreign Ministry did not comment on the matter.

The Trump administration announced earlier this week that it would restart the “Remain in Mexico” program, which forces non-Mexican asylum seekers to stay in Mexico until their cases in the United States are resolved.

Mexican President Claudia Schinbaum said on Wednesday that such a move would require the country receiving the asylum seekers to agree, and that Mexico had not done so.

The State Department and Pentagon 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 threatened a 25 percent tariff on Mexican goods beginning in February.

Scheinbaum tried to avoid escalating the situation and expressed his openness to welcoming returning 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 refugees out of the country, a US official said.

The Pentagon has announced that the US military will fly more than 5,000 refugees detained by US 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.