Migrants put in shackles for Trump deportation flights

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warns of ‘severe consequences’ for those who enter the US illegally as Chicago school claims immigration agents attempted a raid.

Nine restrained young men are led to a military plane as the military watch on. Picture: Posted on X by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt

Migrants were boarded on to military cargo planes in shackles as the Trump administration announced that “deportation flights have begun”.

Photographs released by the White House on Friday show nine young men, restrained with waist belts and their hands bound in front of them, being led to the cargo bay of a C-17 military plane as men in military fatigues watch on.

“President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences,” Karoline Leavitt, the

Guatemalan migrants after being deported from the US. Picture: Guatemalan Migration Institute/AFP/Getty Images

Migrants line up at a migration station in Tapachul, Chiapas state in Mexico. Picture: Juan Manuel Blanco/EPA/The Times

White House press secretary, posted on X alongside the images, without giving details on who the men were or where they were headed to.

Shortly after his inauguration on Monday, President Trump signed several executive orders aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration and declared a state of emergency at the southern border.

Military aircraft are expected to deport up to 5000 people and 1500 extra US troops have been deployed to the border with Mexico. The figure is expected to rise to 10,000 extra troops.

On Friday the White House posted a montage on X of military vehicles, aircraft, soldiers and drones at the border.

Also on Friday, two C-17 aircraft flew about 160 migrants from the United States to Guatemala, according to Reuters, citing an unnamed US official.

Trump has faced a legal setback to his effort to overhaul the immigration system, when a judge on Thursday temporarily blocked his attempt to end birthright citizenship.

Migrant advocacy groups have been planning a flurry of legal challenges to Trump’s migration plan in an attempt to protect the rights of migrants, who fear their families may be separated and that they risk increased harassment.

The Times