The U.S. Coast Guard has started flying detained migrants to deportation sites in Texas and California this weekend, in support of a wider operation to deport undocumented migrants in the United States.
The move follows an emergency declaration by President Donald Trump regarding the southern border with Mexico. In a statement to Task & Purpose, the Coast Guard said that it began “alien expulsion flights” on Jan. 25. The Eleventh Coast Guard District in California is currently the lead command on this, according to the Coast Guard. Images shared by the Coast Guard this weekend showed migrants onboard USCG planes for transit.
“The Coast Guard is surging assets and personnel from around the nation — including Air Stations Elizabeth City, Kodiak, Sacramento, San Diego, and Hawaii — to support this Department of Homeland Security-led operation,” a Coast Guard spokesperson said.
The Coast Guard’s statement to Task & Purpose, shared Sunday evening, only referred to flights on Saturday between Texas and California. The Coast Guard did not specify how many personnel or aircraft were involved in the operation.
While the United States is currently trying to send detained undocumented migrants out of the country, the Trump administration has been hit with some resistance from nations where the people would be sent to. Mexico refused to accept deported migrants. Colombia initially rejected receiving deporting migrants but backed off late Sunday evening.
“In accordance with the President’s Executive Orders, the Coast Guard continues to surge assets and leverage its unique capabilities to protect America’s borders, territorial integrity, and sovereignty,” Adm. Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard’s Acting Commandant, said in a wider statement on Jan. 25. “Today’s operation exemplifies our coordination with our Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense teammates, through which we are detecting, deterring, and interdicting aliens, drug smuggling, and other terrorist or hostile activity before it reaches our border.”
Lunday is currently running the Coast Guard after Commandant Admiral Linda Lee Fagan was fired on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
While the Coast Guard is flying people to different states, the Department of Defense is tasked with the actual deportations. Four Air Force planes are set to fly several thousand currently detained migrants out of the country, according to an announcement this past week from the Department of Defense. Additionally, hundreds of American troops were ordered to the southern border this week by the new Trump administration.
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