Men in shackles led on to US military plane as immigration arrests on rise
US military aircraft have started flying detained migrants out of America on the orders of President Donald Trump.
It comes as the White House released images of men whose hands and ankles were shackled being led on to a plane.
Mr Trump‘s press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted the photos on X and declared: “Deportation flights have begun.”
She said Mr Trump was “sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences”.
It was the first time in recent memory that American military aircraft were being used to fly migrants out of the US, according to an official.
Such planes have in the past been used to relocate people from one country to another, including in 2021 during the United States’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
On Friday, two military aircraft, each carrying about 80 migrants, flew from America to Guatemala, a US official said.
One C-17 reportedly took off from Biggs Army Air Field in Texas, while another C-17 departed from Tucson in Arizona.
“Guatemala and the United States are committed to putting an end to illegal migration and strengthening border security. Starting with two flights today,” the US State Department said.
Pic: X/PressSec
On Instagram, the Guatemalan vice president Karin Herrera’s office posted a video of a military plane landing in Guatemala.
A caption said: “The @guatemalagob [Guatemalan government] remains committed to protecting the integrity of migrants. The vice presidency will continue to verify that the reception of the returnees is in a dignified and safe manner.”
Some 79 Guatemalans returned, all of whom were adults, including 31 women and 48 men, the Guatemalan Migration Institute wrote.
‘Mexico denies US flight access to land’
Another flight which was supposed to fly to Mexico did not take off after Mexican authorities denied it access to land, officials said, according to NBC News.
The Pentagon has said the US military would provide flights for the deportations of more than 5,000 immigrants held by US authorities in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.
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On his first day in the Oval Office, Mr Trump declared illegal immigration a national emergency, and tasked his military with helping to boost security at the Mexico border.
The president has promised the biggest deportation operation in US history, with his new border czar, Tom Homan, saying he’ll target “the worst, first”.
His executive order on 20 January told the Pentagon to send as many troops as needed to obtain “complete operational control of the southern border of the United States”.
‘Hundreds of US soldiers to Mexican border’
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Donald Trump’s first acts as new president
The Trump administration said earlier this week the US military would be sending 1,500 additional active-duty troops to the Mexican border. A second tranche of troops could be deployed as soon as next week.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people have been arrested across the US by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in places such as Buffalo, New York, Chicago, St Paul, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Denver.
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Trump deportation threats spark fear
‘Daily ICE arrests almost double’
Of the 538 arrests on Thursday, 373 were for criminal allegations and 165 were for non-criminal reasons.
According to the most recent data, the 538 figure was almost double ICE’s daily average of 282 in September 2024.
The Trump administration has said its priority is to arrest migrants with criminal backgrounds. The Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday it would allow ICE to arrest undocumented people at places such as schools and churches, which was barred under previous administrations.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” the department said.
Many of the ICE actions were not unusual. Similar deportation flights also took place under the Biden administration, though not using military planes.
NBC News reports that New Jersey officials and immigrant rights supporters have criticised federal immigration authorities for carrying out a workplace raid on a small business in the city of Newark without a warrant.
In a news conference, Mayor Ras Baraka said several agents with ICE entered the back of the business, arrested three undocumented workers, and detained and questioned employees who are US citizens.
“People were fingerprinted. Pictures of their IDs and faces were taken there,” the Democrat mayor said. “I was appalled, upset, angry that this would happen here in this state, in this country, that this would be allowed.”
A Mexican navy ship has hit the Brooklyn Bridge during a promotional tour in New York City.
The New York Fire Department said authorities were responding to injuries but had no details about how many people might have been hurt or whether they were on the vessel or on the bridge.
Sky’s US partner network NBC News reports that at least three people were seriously injured in the incident.
The Mexican navy said in a post on X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy training vessel, was damaged in the accident, which has prevented it from continuing its voyage.
Eyewitness video of the collision posted online showed the mast of the ship, which was flying a large Mexican flag, scraping the underneath of the bridge.
Pic: AP
The vessel then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore.
The Mexican navy said the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance.
The Cuauhtemoc is about 297ft long and 40ft wide, according to the Mexican navy. It sailed for the first time in 1982.
Pic: AP
Each year, it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets’ training.
It left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on 6 April with 277 people onboard, the navy said at the time.
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One person has died in a bomb explosion near a reproductive health clinic in California, authorities have said.
The incident took place in Palm Springs, a city two hours east of Los Angeles, and is being investigated as a possible car explosion.
The city’s mayor Ron DeHarte said one person died in the blast, adding that the bomb was “either in or near” a vehicle. The deceased’s identity is not known, Palm Springs police said.
Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Centers clinic, told the Associated Press his facility was damaged but all staff were safe and accounted for.
The explosion damaged the office space where the practice conducts patient consultations, but the IVF lab and stored embryos were unharmed, he added.
“I really have no clue what happened,” he said. “Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients.”
Debris covers the ground after the explosion. Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
In a statement posted on Facebook the clinic said it was “heartbroken” to learn someone died in the explosion and added: “Our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected.”
It continued: “Our mission has always been to help build families, and in times like these, we are reminded of just how fragile and precious life is.
“In the face of this tragedy, we remain committed to creating hope – because we believe that healing begins with community, compassion, and care.
The clinic will be fully operational on Monday, it added.
“This moment has shaken us – but it has not stopped us. We will continue to serve with strength, love, and the hope that brings new life into the world,” the statement concluded.
Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
The Palm Springs city government said in a post on Facebook that the explosion happened on North Indian Canyon Drive, near East Tachevah Drive, before 11am local time (6pm GMT).
A burned-out car can be seen in a parking lot behind the building in aerial footage.
The blast caved in the clinic’s roof and blew debris across four lanes of the road.
Another person said he was inside a cannabis dispensary nearby when he felt a massive explosion.
Nima Tabrizi said: “The building just shook, and we go outside and there’s massive cloud smoke.”
Investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are travelling to the scene to help assess what happened.
California governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the explosion, his press office said.
A former FBI director has been interviewed by the US Secret Service over a social media post that Republicans say was a call for violence against President Donald Trump.
James Comey, who led the FBI from 2013 until he was fired in 2017 by Mr Trump during his first term in office, shared a photo of seashells appearing to form the numbers “86 47”.
James Comey later removed the Instagram post. File pic: AP
He captioned the Instagram post: “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.”
Some have interpreted the post as a threat, alleging that 86 47 means to violently remove Mr Trump from office, including by assassination.
Mr Comey later removed the post, saying he thought the numbers “were a political message” and that he was not aware that the numeric arrangement could be associated with violence.
“I didn’t realise some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me, but I oppose violence of any kind, so I took the post down,” Mr Comey said.
Mr Trump rejected the former FBI director’s explanation, telling Fox News: “He knew exactly what that meant. A child knows what that meant… that meant assassination.”
Donald Trump Jr accused Mr Comey of “casually calling for my dad to be murdered”.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed in a post on X that Mr Comey had been interviewed as part of “an ongoing investigation” but gave no indication of whether he might face further action.
The Secret Service is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich said Mr Comey had put out “what can clearly be interpreted as a hit on the sitting president of the United States”.
“This is deeply concerning to all of us and is being taken seriously,” Mr Budowich wrote on X.
Another White House official James Blair said the post was a “Clarion Call (…) to terrorists & hostile regimes to kill the President of the United States as he travels in the Middle East”.
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Mr Trump fired Mr Comey in May 2017 for botching an investigation into 2016 democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the White House said at the time.
While Mr Comey was the director of the FBI, the agency opened an investigation into possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia to help get Mr Trump elected.
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