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A U.S. military plane carrying Guatemalan migrants deported from the United States sits on the tarmac at La Aurora airport in Guatemala City, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP) A U.S. military plane carrying Guatemalan migrants deported from the United States sits on the tarmac at La Aurora airport in Guatemala City, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)

A U.S. military plane carrying Guatemalan migrants deported from the United States sits on the tarmac at La Aurora airport in Guatemala City, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)

Maria Ramirez Uribe
By Maria Ramirez Uribe January 28, 2025

If Your Time is short

  • To deport the people immigration agents arrest and detain, deportees’ home countries must accept U.S. deportation flights.

  • Generally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses charter and commercial flights to deport people. But, President Donald Trump’s administration has started using military planes.

  • Some countries have opposed the use of military planes, which prompted the U.S. to threaten the countries with visa and economic sanctions.

President Donald Trump’s administration has begun its mass deportation campaign, carrying out raids and arrests in cities across the U.S. But a crucial part of Trump’s promise to carry out the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history — the deportations — has faced hurdles. 

To deport the people immigration agents arrest and detain, deportees’ home countries must accept the planes that carry them. But some countries that have historically accepted deportation flights have opposed the Trump administration's using military planes for deportations and accused the administration of mistreating the migrants onboard.

On Jan. 26, the U.S. and Colombia entered a diplomatic brawl, threatening each other with tariffs after Colombian President Gustavo Petro denied entry to two U.S. military planes that carried deported Colombians.

The U.S. "can’t treat Colombian migrants like criminals," Petro said in an X post and demanded they be treated "with decency before we take them back." He shared reports of Brazilian migrants on deportation flights who said they were handcuffed and forced to stay on an un-air-conditioned plane for hours as it made several stops to address mechanical problems.

"Petro’s denial of these flights has jeopardized the National Security and Public Safety of the United States," Trump said on Truth Social before directing his administration to impose tariffs and visa sanctions for Colombia. 

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Ultimately, the White House said, Colombia had agreed to accept deportees, including from military planes. Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said his nation would receive its citizens if they are guaranteed decent and humane conditions. 

For context, here’s an overview on how deportation flights typically proceed, what happens when countries don’t accept deported migrants and why this recent Colombia-U.S. feud transpired.

How do deportation flights typically work?

Under U.S. immigration law, people are generally deportable if they entered the U.S. illegally, overstayed their visas or are here legally but have committed certain violent crimes. Generally, people go through immigration court before receiving an order of removal — the official document ordering someone out of the country. Once these people are in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s custody, they are usually detained before being deported.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s air transportation branch, ICE Air Operations, runs deportation flights. The agency uses commercial or charter planes to fly migrants internationally to their countries of origin or internally to other U.S. detention centers.

On Jan. 22, after Trump’s executive orders directing the armed forces to support the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration law enforcement, the Defense Department authorized using military planes for deportation.

"We are not familiar with prior use of military transport to carry out removals and returns," Michelle Mittelstadt, communications director for the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank said.

Using military planes instead of commercial ones can raise diplomatic concerns for the countries receiving the flights, Ediberto Roman, a Florida International University law professor said. 

"The optics gives the impression of a military operation," Roman said.

What happens when countries do not agree to take back deportations?

The U.S. needs receiving countries to cooperate for deportation to work; this generally involves a diplomatic agreement.

"Countries control their own air space as well as who enters their country," Mittelstadt said. "The foreign government must know who is coming, validate that the individuals being returned are their nationals (or from nationalities where they have agreed to accept return), and agree to accept their return."

Certain countries, including Iran, Russia and Ethiopia do not accept U.S. deportation flights, and, as a consequence, the U.S. government can impose visa or economic sanctions against them.

But countries' cooperation with deportation flights can ebb and flow based on diplomatic relations or changing governments, Mittelstadt said.

Cuba, China and Venezuela, for example, generally don’t accept deportees from the U.S. However, under President Joe Biden’s administration, Venezuela and Cuba accepted some deportation flights. In Venezuela, the flights resumed after Venezuela’s president and opposition leader in 2023 agreed on conditions to hold elections, which triggered the U.S. to relieve some sanctions on Venezuela.

Migrants from countries that don’t accept deportations are released into the U.S. because in 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that people cannot be in immigration detention indefinitely.

Does Colombia usually accept deportation flights and has it previously suspended them? 

Historically, Colombia has accepted deportation flights from the U.S. 

During Petro’s administration, which started in August 2022, the U.S. has averaged one deportation flight to Colombia every three days, Adam Isacson, defense oversight director at Washington Office on Latin America, a group advocating for human rights in the Americas, said Jan. 26 on X.

In 2023, during the Biden administration, Colombia temporarily suspended its deportation flight agreement with the U.S., claiming U.S. "degrading treatment" of migrants in U.S. deportation flights. 

Colombia’s migration director said the agency had received "recurring complaints" of bad conditions at U.S. detention centers and deportation flights, highlighting the cuffing of people’s wrists and ankles.

Mittelstadt said it is common for immigration officials to chain or handcuff immigrants who "are being removed from the country during various stages of transport, including within the U.S." 

News reports and a 2021 Hofstra University Law Review paper have long reported about "inhumane conditions" on U.S. deportation flights, including the sedation of migrants and denial of medication.

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Our Sources

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, post, Jan. 26, 2025

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, post, Jan. 26, 2025

The Washington Post, Brazil demands answers from U.S. after deportees allege mistreatment, Jan. 27, 2024

President Donald Trump, post, Jan. 26, 2025

U.S. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, post, Jan. 26, 2025

Cancillería Colombia, post, Jan. 26, 2025

Congressional Research Service, Alien Removals and Returns: Overview and Trends, Feb. 3, 2015

U.S. Government, Understand the deportation process, accessed Jan. 28, 2025

American Immigration Council, The Removal System of the United States: An Overview, Aug. 9, 2025

University of Miami School of Law, DHS Post-final order custody review, accessed Jan. 28, 2025

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE Air Operations, Aug. 8, 2023

U.S. Department of Defense, DOD Orders 1,500 Troops, Additional Assets to Southern Border, Jan. 22, 2025

The White House, Clarifying The Military’s Role In Protecting The Territorial Integrity Of The United States, Jan. 20, 2025

The White House, Protecting The American People Against Invasion, Jan. 20, 2025

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Recalcitrant Countries, Jan. 22, 2025

The Washington Post, Countries refusing deportees could hinder Trump’s immigration plans, Jan. 28, 2025

U.S. Department of Homeland Security, DHS Conducts Removal Flight to the People’s Republic of China, Nov. 18, 2024

PBS News, U.S. resumes deportation flights to Venezuela, Oct. 18, 2023

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE announces additional enforcement, removal actions, May 11, 2023

Adam Isacson, defense oversight director at Washington Office on Latin America, post, Jan. 26, 2025

Migración Colombia, Cancelación de vuelos y tratos degradantes motivan la suspensión temporal de llegada de retornados Migración Colombia, May 4, 2023

The Guardian, Somalis were shackled for nearly 48 hours on failed US deportation flight, Dec. 19, 2017

X, Post, Jan. 26, 2025

Hofstra Law Review, The Final Act: Deportation by ICE Air, Dec. 1, 2021

The Washington Post, Some Detainees Are Drugged For Deportation, May 13, 2008

Phone interview, Ediberto Roman, a Florida International University law professor, Jan. 27, 2025

Email interview, Michelle Mittelstadt, communications director for the Migration Policy Institute, Jan. 27, 2025

Email interview, Tom Cartwright, Witness at the Border researcher, Jan. 28, 2025

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How do U.S. deportation flights work, what happens when countries refuse to accept them?