US military spent over $21m on deportation flights

WASHINGTON: The US military has spent more than $21 million on flights to deport migrants from the United States during President Donald Trump´s second term, according to figures released on Monday.

Between January 20 and April 8, US Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) flew 46 flights on military aircraft in support of migrant deportation efforts, the command told Senator Elizabeth Warren, who released replies to a series of questions she had posed.

“The flights total 802.5 hours at an average cost of $26,277 per flight hour,” TRANSCOM said -- a total of more than $21 million. Warren -- a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee -- said “every American should be outraged by Donald Trump wasting military resources to pay for his political stunts that do not make us safer.”

“US service members did not sign up for this abuse of power,” the Democratic lawmaker said in a statement. The Trump administration has launched what it has cast as a major effort to curb illegal migration that has included immigration raids, arrests and deportations.

Trump has also deployed thousands of additional troops to the US border with Mexico, where they have been granted the power to detain migrants in certain areas.The United Nations´ migration agency defended its role in the voluntary departure of migrants leaving the United States, insisting that it was not taking part in expulsions.