The Donald Trump administration has stopped using expensive military planes to fly migrants who entered the US illegally, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
The report says using military planes to take some migrants to their home countries or to a military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been too costly and not working well.
US defense officials told The Wall Street Journal that no military flights are planned for the next few days, and the last military flight for deportation was on March 1. They said this pause could last longer or even be permanent.
A report by Reuters said that a US military flight to deport migrants to Guatemala costs at least $4,675 for each person, according to US and Guatemalan officials. This is more than five times the $853 cost of a one-way first-class ticket on American Airlines from El Paso, Texas, the starting point of the flight, based on a look at public airfares.
It is also much more expensive than the cost of a one-way first-class ticket on American Airlines from El Paso, Texas, the starting point of the flight, based on a review of public airfares.
US President Donald Trump was elected with a promise to carry out the biggest deportation “in the history of America.” Most of the migrants being targeted for deportation are from Latin America, but some are being sent back from faraway places as well. Trump started military deportation flights in January as part of his national emergency on immigration. So far, six flights have taken migrants back to Latin America.
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