U.S. military aircraft flew two deportation flights to Guatemala Thursday evening, roughly as ground troops arrived at the southern border, as part of the Trump administration’s deployment of military troops to support Customs and Border Protection personnel.
The White House and Pentagon are prioritizing news about the border mission, and the Pentagon is only allowing social media posts about the mission for the next 10 days while it refocuses its social media mission around the world.
1,500 The first from the sea and the army workers also began arriving at the border Thursday afternoon, as Marines near San Diego arrived at the Mexican border wall to set up additional walls and prepare for the arrival of more troops.
That same evening, two US Air Force C-17 aircraft took off from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, and Biggs Army Airfield in El Paso, Texas, carrying approximately 80 deportees from Guatemala. to the hometown
U.S. Marines with the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, drive tactical vehicles along the southern border near San Ysidro, Calif., on Jan. 23, 2025.
Photo by U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Logan Courtright
About 1,000 U.S. military personnel, mostly military police units, are moving from various U.S. military bases to locations in Texas to assist CBP personnel, although it is unclear what they will do as part of the new mission.
The 1,500 troops will not perform law enforcement duties, according to a US official, who stressed that the military are only being sent to the border on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security and will not have any contact with migrants crossing the border. southern border
The first word of the C-17 deportation flights came from the White House’s X account. The account also posted the first official footage of Marines at the border in San Diego later in the day.
The posts show how the Trump White House is prioritizing news about the border mission and reaching a large audience through the size of its social media accounts.
“As he promised there, President Trump is sending a strong message to the world: Those who enter the United States illegally will face serious consequences,” the White House official said.
Late Friday, Joe Kasper, the chief of staff at the Department of Defense, issued a statement saying the Department of Defense had suspended all social media postings worldwide for 10 days, refocusing the department on Trump’s core mission of “Keeping America Safe, Acting in the Field.” to guide the deadliest force on the planet, and fighting and winning wars.’
But there was a notable exception to the posts about the military’s support mission on the southern border, which he called a “top priority” and essentially means that for the next 10 days the only posts on the Defense Department’s social media will be about border operations.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent watches as illegal aliens are loaded onto a C-17 Globemaster III at Tucson International Airport, Arizona, on January 23, 2025.
Photo by Defense Department Air Chief Airman Devlin Bishop
The C-17 flight’s arrival in Guatemala was open to the local press, which captured video and photographs of 160 deportees disembarking from large military transports.
No more deportation flights are planned for the foreseeable future, a US official said, noting that the pace of flights depends on several factors, including the State Department’s ability to obtain diplomatic approval from the host country. return his nationals.
Typically, DHS uses chartered civilian aircraft to conduct deportation or removal flights to deportees’ countries.
A spokesperson for the US Transportation Command told ABC News that the two deportation flights were the first time USTRANSCOM aircraft were used for a mission since the military command was established in 1982. The command’s historian could not say with certainty whether the Department of Defense could. having done such missions before that date.
Guatemalan immigrants disembark from a U.S. military plane from the U.S. at Guatemala Air Force Base, Jan. 24, 2025.
Guatemala Migration Institute/AFP via Getty Images
The National Guard Bureau said Thursday it is ready to provide more support to the border mission, where 2,500 federalized members of the National Guard have been authorized to provide a support mission to CBP since late 2018 during the first Trump administration.
U.S. defense officials said Wednesday they expected there could be more requests for troops at the border.
“This is just the beginning. It’s an initial step, and we have many more missions planned,” a senior defense official told reporters.
In anticipation of a call for more troops, two U.S. officials told ABC News that the Army has pre-positioned higher-level units, such as the 82nd Airborne Division and 10th Mountain Division, if needed.
However, US officials have said there are no plans for a near-term expansion of the border mission, with a view to ensuring the 1,500 troops being deployed to the border are fully operational.
