A U.S. Air Force jet with 80 migrants that left Texas for Guatemala on Thursday charted a path around Mexico because it couldn't fly over the country, according to a U.S. official. The Mexican government said it never denied permission.

The president’s made-for-TV showmanship has been all over his first days in office, as he has sought to kick off the country’s largest mass deportation effort.

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — A military plane loaded with deportees bound for Guatemala departed from Biggs Army Airfield on Thursday morning, marking a new approach in the federal government's intensified efforts to enforce immigration policies.

Three U.S. Army soldiers were onboard a BlackHawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s military deportation flight to Guatemala on Monday likely cost at least $4,675 per migrant, according to data provided by U.S. and Guatemalan officials. That is more than five times the $853 cost of a one-way first class ticket on American Airlines from El Paso,

A military deportation flight to Guatemala ordered by Donald Trump likely cost at least $4,675 per migrant, according to data provided by US and Guatemalan officials. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The first such military flight out of El Paso, Texas, took place, bound for Guatemala with approximately 80 immigrants on board.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Friday that "Deportation flights have begun," releasing a photo of people boarding a military aircraft.

Two military jets landed in Guatemala City on Friday carrying deported migrants from Tucson, Ariz., and El Paso, according to local migration authorities and the American Embassy in Guatemala.

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump forged ahead with military deportation flights on Jan 27, sending another planeload of migrants to Guatemala a day after coming to the brink of a trade war with Colombia after it refused to let C-17 aircraft land.

Trump’s threats of tariffs and mass deportations fuel rising anxiety on the border and in Mexico. Border businesses that depend on trade are bracing for the economic consequences. Mexican officials publicly downplay the impact but prepare for whatever comes next.

Sheinbaum has so far staved off Trump’s tariff threats by ramping up migrant detentions within Mexico and cracking down on fentanyl production and trafficking. In turn, Trump, 78, recently praised Sheinbaum and Mexico in his teleconferenced speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.