Deportation flights begin as White House pursues new immigration enforcement priorities

The Trump Administration has been highlighting immigration enforcement efforts that have been occurring since the new president was sworn in. That includes deportation flights.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted two photos online Friday of what appear to be handcuffed undocumented immigrants entering U.S. military aircraft.

The flights left Biggs Army Air Field in El Paso, Texas, sending 80 Guatemalans back to their home country.

Leavitt said in a message with the photos is that "if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face consequences."

While using military planes for the flights is new, the federal government has been flying deported people back to their home country for years.

Usually these are flights flown by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE. Sometimes these are charter flights, while other times ICE will use commercial airlines.

Last year, ICE flew more than 860 flights and helped DHS remove roughly 700,000 people. That's an average of about 1,900 people a day.

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These deportation efforts have been widely supported. Scripps News heard from Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, who said using federal assets is OK, especially if it's to remove dangerous criminals.

"If President Trump focuses on deporting dangerous criminals, those who have committed additional crimes in the United States against Americans, I think there will be broad and bipartisan support for their deportation," Sen. Coons said.

Earlier this week Acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said the military would be providing airlift support to deport more than 5,000 immigrants from California and Texas.