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Mexico has refused a request from President Donald Trump's administration to allow a U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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.
Slovak PM Fico rejects calls to quit amid growing protests
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico rejected protesters' calls for his resignation on Saturday after tens of thousands demonstrated against his government's policy shift closer to Russia.
Around 60,000 protested in the capital Bratislava on Friday, organisers estimated, and media said in total around 100,000 had turned out for rallies in cities across the country, the biggest demonstrations since Fico returned to power in 2023.
The protests come after Fico privately travelled to Moscow in December to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, a rare encounter for a European Union leader since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
"The government can only be changed if there are elections," Fico said in interview with the public broadcaster on Saturday when asked about the protests.
Fico's leftist-nationalist administration accused progressive opponents this week of planning to escalate protests to try to overthrow the government illegally. Opposition parties and civic groups organising protests reject the accusations.
Citing information from intelligence services, Fico has alleged, without showing evidence, there was a group of unidentified experts in Slovakia that had helped in protests against a pro-Russian leader in Ukraine in 2014 and Georgia last year.
He said on Saturday a list of people to be expelled was under preparation, without giving more details.
Protests were nearing levels seen in 2018 when the murder of an investigative journalist caused mass demonstrations and forced Fico's resignation during an earlier stint in office.
Critics say the four-time prime minister's ruling coalition is weakening democratic values, while shifting foreign policy away from EU and NATO allies and closer to Russia.
The civic group Mier Ukrajine (Peace to Ukraine), which organised Friday's protests under the slogan "We are Europe", will hold more demonstrations on Feb. 7.
Fico has defended his government's foreign policy saying it seeks good ties with all sides, and while critical of some EU policies he has said policy was still determined by EU and NATO membership.
His fragile three-party coalition, which won 79 of 150 seats in 2023 elections, will be tested next week with an opposition motion of no-confidence due for debate.
On Friday evening, a junior ruling party expelled two members, and last year three deputies left the other junior coalition member, although they have supported the government in some key votes.
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