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EL PASO, Texas – Fox News got exclusive access to the most recent repatriation flight, where more than 80 illegal migrants were loaded onto a C-17 military plane and deported from El Paso, Texas, back to Ecuador.
“The take-home message here is, ‘not today, not today, not tomorrow, not next week,’” U.S. Border Patrol Special Operations Supervisor Hamid Nikseresht said. “Do not come to the United States and enter illegally.”
The plane took off from Biggs Army Airfield around 11 a.m. on Tuesday. 43 females and 37 males, including several family units, were deported.
These are illegal migrants from Ecuador, who broke the law when they crossed illegally into the U.S. According to border patrol, they were already in custody, either found between ports of entry checkpoints, smuggling operations, or stash houses.

Fox News got an exclusive look at a repatriation flight from Texas to Ecuador. (Fox News)
According to the CBP, the C-17 is a huge asset to get illegal migrants back to their home countries quickly.
“With the support of our Department of Defense partners, we’re sending the message that if it takes you 30, 60 or 90 days in some cases, to come to the United States illegally, enter once you’re found amenable to removal under Title 8, we can have you back in your home country within seven hours,” Nikseresht said. “That puts you pretty much anywhere in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and anywhere in between.”
Flight crewmembers told Fox News they were the same crewmembers who brought the illegal migrants to Colombia over the weekend and initially were turned away by the Colombian government.
President Trump threatened tariffs, and the president of Colombia quickly backed down, sending a strong message to other countries who think about not accepting these flights with its citizens.