The handcuffs were removed only when they were out of American airspace. But they never got their shoelaces back. When the military plane landed in Guatemala City, the sun had begun to break through the clouds and Vice President Karin Herrera stood on the platform.
The migrants, several of whom, like Sara Tot-Botoz, had lived in the USA for tens of years, were received with cookies and temporary ID cards. Most of them had been arrested when Joe Biden was president but were deported in high-profile fashion by Donald Trump's administration. The new president of the USA wants to show that he is delivering on his campaign promises.
It feels dangerous to be in the USA now, says Sara Tot-Botoz, who has long worked on construction sites and taken care of children and grandchildren in Alabama, to CNN.
Now she just wants to go home to her birthplace and never leave it, she says.
Concerns You
Tom Homan, Donald Trump's so-called border tsar and former head of the migration and customs agency Ice, is the one leading the deportations. For the Trump administration, they are primarily about national security and removing threats to public safety.
Homan emphasizes that border security is high on the Americans' agenda and accuses, like Trump, migrants of rape, violent crime, and drug smuggling. The police and Ice are now primarily conducting raids against criminals, but Homan stresses that no undocumented person is safe.
If you are in the USA illegally, it (mass deportations) concerns you. Every time you cross the border illegally, you commit a crime, he says to ABC's program This Week.
One of Trump's first actions as president was to declare a state of emergency at the southern border and send soldiers there.
The military will not only help with deportations using military planes but also build infrastructure. We are securing the border and closing it, says Homan.
Agents in Schools?
The goal for Ice initially is to arrest at least 1,200 undocumented people per day, writes The Washington Post. During the weekend's high-profile raids in, among other places, Chicago, nearly 1,000 people were arrested. This can be compared to just under 300 per day in September.
To accomplish this massive effort, the Trump administration is building detention centers with tens of thousands of beds near the border, including in Texas. The green light has also been given for arrests in churches, hospitals, and schools – places that were previously off-limits.
When asked directly if Ice agents will go into elementary schools, Homan responds rhetorically and refers to a notorious gang in El Salvador:
How many of MS-13's members are between 14 and 17 years old? Many.
Tina Magnergård Bjers/TT
Background: Donald Trump and the USA's Border
TT
Border security, national security, and tougher immigration policy are profile issues for the USA's president Donald Trump.
One of his most prominent promises during the 2016 election campaign was to build a border wall against Mexico. Ahead of the 2020 election, he promised mass deportations of the USA's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants and to use the military, local police, and national guard if necessary. Trump has repeatedly claimed that criminals and drugs are flowing over the USA's southern border.
How many people will actually be deported under Donald Trump is unclear. If the goal of 1,200 arrests per day is met, it could result in up to 1.8 million people being deported during the four-year term.
Sources: Ice, American media
