US stopped sending illegal migrants by…, the cost for sending illegal migrants to India per flight was Rs….

The Trump administration has stopped using military planes to send immigrants who entered the US illegally to Guantanamo Bay or other countries, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing defense offici

The Trump administration has stopped using military planes to send immigrants who entered the US illegally to Guantanamo Bay or other countries, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing defense officials. According to the report, US President Donald Trump has made crackdown on illegal immigration a key focus of his second term. Using military planes to transport some immigrants to their home countries or to the military base at Guantanamo Bay has proven to be costly and inefficient. The last military deportation flight was on March 1, officials said.

The Pentagon said Tuesday that no such flights were scheduled for the next 48 hours. A defense official said a flight scheduled for Thursday was canceled. The ban on such flights could be extended or made permanent, officials said. C-17 and C-130 planes were being used to transport the deportees.

Soon after Trump took office in January, his administration began using military aircraft for flights traditionally operated by the Homeland Security Department to transfer some migrants to other countries and to U.S. military facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Defense officials said the administration wanted the military flights to send a message about its intention to get tough on immigrants living in the country illegally.

“The message is clear: If you break the law, if you’re a criminal, you’re going to find your way to Guantanamo Bay,” said U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after he visited Guantanamo Bay last week and watched migrants arrive on a C-130 plane. “You don’t want to be in Guantanamo Bay,” he said.

Transporting at a higher cost

The Trump administration has operated about 30 migrant flights using C-17 aircraft and about a dozen flights on C-130s, according to flight-tracking data. Destinations included India, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Honduras, Panama and Guantanamo Bay, but the Journal found that military flights took longer routes and transported fewer migrants at a higher cost.

How much do deportation flights to India cost?

According to the report, three deportation flights to India cost $3 million (approx. Rs 24,86,67,450.00) per flight. The Journal’s analysis found that some flights that carried a dozen people to Guantanamo cost at least $20,000 per migrant. A standard U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flight costs $8,500 per flight hour, according to a government webpage. Former ICE officials told the Journal that figure is closer to $17,000 per hour for international trips.