Mexico refuses US military flight deporting migrants, sources say

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 U.S. official and a Mexican official told Reuters on Friday (January 24).

U.S. 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 U.S. and cooperated on issues such as immigration.

The Mexican official did not give a reason for the denial of permission to land, while the foreign ministry did not mention the incident.

U.S.-Mexico relations have come into sharp focus since Trump started his second term on Monday (January 20) with the declaration of a national emergency along the two nations' shared border. He has ordered 1,500 additional U.S. troops there so far, and officials have said thousands more could deploy soon.

(Production: Rodolfo Pena Roja, Alicia Fernandez)