EXCLUSIVE: When Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's plane ride home encountered issues back from Guatemala on Thursday, she hitched a ride from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE had just conducted a deportation flight from the United States to the Central American country, as the administration ramps up its efforts to remove those in the country illegally.
"Had some plane issues on the ride back from Guatemala. Fortunately, an ICE deportation flight carrying criminal illegal aliens had just touched down on the same tarmac in Guatemala," Noem said in a statement.
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The secretary used the opportunity to encourage individuals to self-deport before facing potential detention or further legal repercussions.
For illegal immigrants who do not have criminal backgrounds, they are being offered free travel outside of the United States and $1,000. In addition, those who opt to self-deport will have their "failure to depart" fines, if applicable, scrapped.
"Hitched a ride back to the USA on ICE Air-great flight. Use the [CBP Home] app to self deport now!" Noem continued.
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According to DHS, the arriving flight included people with drug trafficking, arson, assault and battery convictions. The flight left Alexandria, Louisiana, and arrived in Guatemala at 1:30 p.m., just two hours before they were about to take off.
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The secretary just wrapped up a multi-country visit to Central America, including Panama, Honduras and Costa Rica. Noem announced that Honduras and Guatemala could now potentially take in asylum seekers as part of a deal.
"Honduras and now Guatemala, after today, will be countries that will take those individuals and give them refugee status as well," Noem said, according to the Associated Press.
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"We've never believed that the United States should be the only option, that the guarantee for a refugee is that they go somewhere to be safe and to be protected from whatever threat they face in their country. It doesn't necessarily have to be the United States," she added.
The U.S. and Honduras also agreed to a "statement of intent" for "biometric cooperation."
"We strengthened our partnership to combat illegal migration by signing a statement of intent for biometric cooperation-a critical tool to help both Honduras and the United States detect criminals and terrorists attempting to cross our borders," Noem posted to X on Thursday.
