Immigration and Customs Enforcement has rescued hundreds of U.S. citizens stranded in Central America because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The agency’s air transportation arm, ICE Air Operations, said it rescued 130 U.S. citizens from Honduras and 127 U.S. citizens from El Salvador on return flights from deporting illegal immigrants. A total of 466 U.S. citizens stranded in Central America have so far been picked up since the outbreak.
“ICE will continue to work with the State Department to facilitate the safe return of U.S. citizens on future removal flight returns from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the agency said in a statement Saturday.
The press release said return operations could expand to countries outside of the Northern Triangle of Central America, which includes El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.
The Trump administration continues to deport illegal immigrants during the coronavirus outbreak despite protests from Democrats, who sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security earlier in March demanding all deportations end to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.
“Deporting people who may have been exposed to coronavirus to either countries that have few or no cases or to countries with weak health care infrastructure is an unacceptable risk to take,” the letter read. “Many countries, including the United States, are implementing strict border controls during this pandemic, and we should make no exception for ICE Air and deportations.”
