In an unprecedented move, the Trump administration has deployed a US military aircraft to return Indian migrants to their home country, marking the longest such deportation under the US President Donald Trump, a US official said on Monday.
According to an anonymous US official, a C-17 military aircraft carrying Indian migrants had departed and was expected to take over 24 hours to reach India, Reuters reported.
The US Department of Defense has also started facilitating the deportation of more than 5,000 migrants from detention centers in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.
Previously, the US had used military flights to deport migrants to Guatemala, Peru, and Honduras. However, these deportations come at a high financial cost.
For instance, a single military deportation flight to Guatemala reportedly cost around $4,675 per migrant—far more than the cost of commercial deportation flights operated by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
