Flight carrying Argentines deported from United States lands in Buenos Aires

A chartered flight carrying 17 Argentines deported from the United States landed at Ezeiza International Airport in the early hours of Thursday morning, after stopovers in Colombia and Brazil.

The Boeing 767-300, operated by Omni Air International for the US Department of Homeland Security, touched down around 3am. The deportees entered through the private terminal before reuniting with relatives.

The plane had departed from Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, Texas on Wednesday, stopping in Bogotá and Belo Horizonte.

News of the flight, which was broken by the Clarín newspaper on Wednesday, lifts the lid on a process on ongoing deportations. The Milei administration and Argentina’s Ambassador in Washington, Alec Oxenford, had sought to keep the operation secret, local media reported. 

US President Donald Trump vowed during his White House campaign to deport millions of undocumented migrants. He has encouraged US authorities to be more aggressive as he seeks to hit his widely-reported target of one million deportations annually.

Argentina will not formally protest, unlike other countries affected by the measure, but will be annoyed – despite Milei’s apparent close relationship with US President Trump, the country effectively has been grouped alongside Venezuela and Brazil when it comes to deportation.

US authorities said the deportations target foreigners who entered illegally, committed crimes or are considered security risks. So far, more than 300 Argentines have been deported from the United States during Trump’s second administration, though the information had not been made public until now, reported Clarín midweek.

The Trump administration has explained that the deportations are aimed at repatriating foreign citizens who have violated US immigration laws, particularly those who entered the country illegally, committed crimes, or are considered security risks. Some of the deportees were accused of serious breaches of US federal law, including immigration offences, car theft, rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a minor.

Several of the deportees rejected being labelled criminals.

“We are not criminals,” some Argentines told the press on arrival at Ezeiza. One of them, Maximiliano García, 49, said he was detained over a “supposed deportation order” dating from 2015, of which he claimed he had never been notified.

García, who had lived in the United States since 2001, had a family and a valid work permit. “It’s strange to be detained in such an unusual situation, because this Trump administration is a black page in the glorious history of the United States. To them, we are criminals,” he said.

Detained since August 21, García explained he had been taken into custody when attending an immigration office in Orlando for a family procedure. “My daughter is 21, and after finishing the paperwork they told me to ‘step aside for a few extra questions.’ That’s when they took me.”

“There is a striking level of hatred and racism in this miserable Trump administration,” García said, adding: “I wasn’t afraid, but they are breaking families apart. I was held in a Miami detention centre. With [former US president Joe] Biden, this didn’t happen.”

Another deportee, 25-year-old Mario Robles, stressed that some of those expelled were not criminals. He said he had been detained while travelling to San Antonio, Texas, without specifying the reason.

“We are not criminals, we didn’t kill or rape. Now I just want to be with my family. It’s hard being far from them, though I’ve been surrounded by good people,” said Robles, who was told he could not return to the United States for five years.

– TIMES/NA/PERFIL