Ecuadorian migrants, with their hands and feet handcuffed, line up to climb a plane at the Albrook Gelabert airport in Panama City on August 29, 2024, during their deportation. (Martin Bernetti – AFP / Getty Images)
By Joe Saunders January 24, 2025 at 8:59am
President Donald Trump’s administration isn’t wasting any time.
Only days after Trump’s inauguration on Monday, flights deporting illegal immigrants back to their country of origin have begun, the White House announced on Friday.
And press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s statement on the social media platform X made it clear that it was only the beginning.
“Deportation flights have begun,” she wrote.
“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.”
That’s a starkly different message from the one former President Joe Biden’s immigration policies sent — when abandonment of the country’s southern border acted as a magnet to millions from around the world who crossed into the country illegally.
And it was exactly the kind of message Trump supporters want the rest of the world to hear:
Pics of guys in irons being marched into a military transport will deter at least some of them from trying to cross our border illegally.
— MolonNukei (@MolonNukei) January 24, 2025
They want in come in legally and through the front door! They will be welcomed. It’s that simple 👊🇺🇸👊
— Robert Bradley Jones 🇺🇸 (@RobertBradleyJ2) January 24, 2025
Can’t believe we finally have some common sense back in the US.
— Greg Kustanovich (@GregKustanovich) January 24, 2025
Leavitt’s post didn’t go into details about the men pictured. However, Fox News reported that sources had identified one of the photos as being taken at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.
Are you glad deportations are under way?
The plane in that photo was headed for Guatemala, Fox reported.
Leavitt’s post comes at the end of Trump’s first week in office that saw a sea change in the country’s handling of illegal immigration.
On Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced its agents had arrested hundreds of illegals in crackdowns around the country.
That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the millions who entered the country illegally during the Biden years, when illegal immigrants were flown into the country’s interior — without the federal government properly alerting local authorities.
But it’s only the beginning.
And, more importantly to the success of the Trump White House’s agenda, it’s a signal to the countless millions around the world who want to come to the United States that the way to do so is by following the rules.
And as many social media users noted, it was simply Trump following through on his campaign positions.
This is what we voted for MAGA PATRIOTS! It’s a glorious sight! America first! #zelena
— Sonja K MAGA (@SonjaKeene2) January 24, 2025
“This is what we voted for MAGA PATRIOTS!” one user wrote. “It’s a glorious sight! America first!”
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro desk editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015.
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015. Largely a product of Catholic schools, who discovered Ayn Rand in college, Joe is a lifelong newspaperman who learned enough about the trade to be skeptical of every word ever written. He was also lucky enough to have a job that didn’t need a printing press to do it.
Birthplace
Philadelphia
Nationality
American
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