Mexico Refuses US Military Flight Deporting Migrants, Sources Say

 Workers construct temporary shelters for possible deportees from the United States, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
Workers construct temporary shelters for possible deportees from the United States, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
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Mexico Refuses US Military Flight Deporting Migrants, Sources Say

 Workers construct temporary shelters for possible deportees from the United States, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)
Workers construct temporary shelters for possible deportees from the United States, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP)

Mexico has refused a request from President Donald Trump's administration to allow a US military aircraft deporting migrants to land in the country, a US official and a Mexican official told Reuters.

US military aircraft carried out two similar flights, each with about 80 migrants, to Guatemala on Friday. The government was not able to move ahead with a plan to have a C-17 transport aircraft land in Mexico, however, after the country denied permission.

A US official and a Mexican official confirmed the decision, which was first reported by NBC News.

Mexico's foreign ministry, in a statement late on Friday, said the country had a "very great relationship" with the US and cooperated on issues such as immigration.

"When it comes to repatriations, we will always accept the arrival of Mexicans to our territory with open arms," the ministry said.

The Mexican official did not give a reason for the denial of permission to land, while the foreign ministry did not mention the incident.

Trump's administration earlier this week announced it was re-launching the program known as "Remain in Mexico," which forced non-Mexican asylum seekers to wait in Mexico until their cases in the United States were resolved.

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

The US State Department and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

US-Mexico relations have come into sharp focus since Trump started his second term on Monday with the declaration of a national emergency along the two nations' shared border. He has ordered 1,500 additional US troops there so far, and officials have said thousands more could deploy soon.

The president has declared Mexican drug cartels terrorist organizations, renamed the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America and threatened an across-the-board 25% duty on Mexican goods beginning in February.

Sheinbaum has sought to avoid escalating the situation and expressed openness toward accommodating Mexican nationals who are returned.

But the leftist leader has also said she does not agree with mass deportations and that Mexican immigrants are vital to the US economy.

The use of US military aircraft to carry out deportation 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 relocate individuals from one country to another, like during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

This was the first time in recent memory that US military aircraft were used to fly migrants out of the country, one US official said.

The Pentagon has said that the US military would provide flights to deport more than 5,000 immigrants held by US authorities in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.

Guatemala also on Friday received a third flight of about 80 deported migrants on a chartered commercial aircraft, Guatemalan authorities told Reuters.



China Urges US to ‘Correct Mistakes’ After State Department Website Drops Taiwan Independence Reference 

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun gestures during a press conference in Beijing, China, 17 February 2025. (EPA)
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun gestures during a press conference in Beijing, China, 17 February 2025. (EPA)
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China Urges US to ‘Correct Mistakes’ After State Department Website Drops Taiwan Independence Reference 

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun gestures during a press conference in Beijing, China, 17 February 2025. (EPA)
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun gestures during a press conference in Beijing, China, 17 February 2025. (EPA)

China on Monday urged the United States to "correct its mistakes" after the US State Department removed previous wording on its website about not supporting Taiwan independence, which it said was part of a routine update.

The fact sheet on Taiwan, updated last week, retains Washington's opposition to unilateral change from either Taiwan or from China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own.

But as well as dropping the phrase "we do not support Taiwan independence", the page added a reference to Taiwan's cooperation with a Pentagon technology and semiconductor development project and says the US will support Taiwan's membership in international organizations "where applicable".

Beijing regularly denounces any international recognition of Taiwan or contact between Taiwanese and foreign officials, viewing it as encouraging Taiwan's separate status from China.

The update to the website came roughly three weeks after US President Donald Trump was sworn in to his second term in the White House.

Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the revisions for Taiwan on the US State Department's website were a big step backwards and "sends a seriously wrong message to Taiwan independence separatist forces".

"This is yet another example of the United States' stubborn adherence to the erroneous policy of 'using Taiwan to suppress China'. We urge the United States side to immediately rectify its mistakes," Guo said.

The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is its strongest international backer, bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.

"As is routine, the fact sheet was updated to inform the general public about our unofficial relationship with Taiwan," a State Department spokesperson said in an email sent late Sunday Taiwan time responding to questions on the updated website wording.

"The United States remains committed to its one China policy," the spokesperson said, referring to Washington officially taking no position on Taiwan's sovereignty and only acknowledging China's position on the subject.

"The United States is committed to preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," the spokesperson said.

"We oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. We support cross-Strait dialogue, and we expect cross-Strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means, free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to people on both sides of the Strait."

On Sunday, Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung expressed his appreciation for what he called the "support and positive stance on US-Taiwan relations".

Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims, saying that only the island's people can decide their future.

Taiwan says it is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name. The Republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists, who set up the People's Republic of China.