In the first week of the US president's second term, officials reported the deportation of some 7,300 people of different nationalities.
ADVERTISEMENTThe first group of Haitian migrants deported from the United States arrived back in Haiti on Tuesday.
They landed at Cap-Haïtien airport on the country’s north coast, the only airport still operating for commercial flights.
Mario Montès, one of the deportees, said he had been in the US for nearly a year, working in Alaska before being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Miami.
"I was on my way to work when immigration officers stopped me and asked me to come to their office. They said there was a new president and some paperwork we needed to re-apply for," he recalled.
"When I arrived, I saw the handcuffs, and they just told me they were sending me back to my country," he added.
El Salvador offers to take in people deported from US
Meanwhile, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has proposed accepting deportees of any nationality from the US, including American citizens, into the country's mega-jail, which can house up to 40,000 inmates at a time according to official numbers, which have been disputed by rights groups.
On Monday night, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Bukele’s offer “the most unprecedented and extraordinary migratory agreement anywhere in the world.”
Rubio characterised the deal as a "safe third country" agreement, allowing the US to deport non-Salvadoran migrants to El Salvador if they have violated US immigration laws.
"He has also offered to take in dangerous criminals currently in US custody, even if they are American citizens or legal residents," Rubio added.
The deportations are part of a series of executive orders signed by Trump following his return to the White House last month.
In the first week of his second term, the Department of Homeland Security reported deporting some 7,300 people of different nationalities.