By Sarah Hooper
The deportation flights have drawn fierce criticism鈥 and outlandish theories (Picture: Reuters)
Since taking office again in January, Donald Trump鈥檚 administration has deported thousands on flights to countries in Latin America.
According to data from Witness at the Border, more than 600 deportation flights have taken off since Trump鈥檚 order earlier this year.
The sheer number of arrests in America and the increased aggressive tactics by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have sparked outrage among Americans and others.
Immigration raids in Los Angeles last month caused intense backlash, causing the city to introduce a curfew and prompting Trump to deploy the National Guard.
Trump was slammed for deporting many of these migrants without a fair trial, to which he replied: 鈥榊ou can鈥檛 have a trial for all of these people.
Deportees have been taken to various countries in Latin America (Map: Metro)
鈥楲ook, we are getting some very bad people, killers, murderers, drug dealers, really bad people, the mentally ill, the mentally insane, they emptied out insane asylums into our country, we鈥檙e getting them out.
鈥楢nd a judge can鈥檛 say: 鈥楴o, you have to have a trial,鈥欌 Trump claimed. 鈥楴o, we are going to have a very dangerous country if we are not allowed to do what we are entitled to do.鈥
@vbne871 06/29/2025-ICE says they deport people safely but why use expensive military cargo planes that don鈥檛 always land? Why are shackled bodies washing up in Europe? Why are immigrants being taken to countries that aren鈥檛 their own? And why are fake agents abducting immigrants? We need answers. #StayAlert Like, comment 鈥減art 2鈥 if you want a breakdown of the flight data and court process. #ICE #DeportationFlights #HumanRights #MigrantJustice #ImmigrationNews #StopTheHate #DueProcess #FactCheck #TikTokNews #ImmigrantRights #Staylnformed 鈾 original sound 鈥 vbne871
As tensions continue to boil over, some TikTokers have begun making outlandish claims about where the migrant flights went.
One TikToker said: 鈥業CE says they deport people safely, but whydo they use expensive military cargo planes that don鈥檛 always land?
鈥榃hy are shackled bodies washing up in Europe? Why areimmigrants being taken to countries that aren鈥檛 their own? And why are fake agents abducting immigrants? We need answers.鈥
Shackled bodies 鈥榳ashing up in Europe鈥
Let鈥檚 unpack these claims.
The reference to shackled bodies washing up in Europe 鈥 Spain, specifically 鈥 are migrants from Algeria, authorities have said.
Police in Majorca opened an investigation to identify the bodies, but say they were likely handcuffed and thrown in the ocean during a 鈥榗onfrontation鈥 onboard.
Decomposition and lack of DNA evidence have made the identification process of these bodies more difficult, they say.
Claims from TikTokers that these bodies could be the migrants they claim the US are 鈥榯hrowing into the ocean鈥 are not only likely false, but also implausible.
Even if a body from the Gulf of Mexico were to wash all the way to Spain, by the time it reached there, if at all, it would have been completely decomposed, eaten by animals or, more likely, already at the bottom of the ocean.
There haven鈥檛 been reports of shackled bodies found on the shores of Mexico, America, or nearby islands in the Gulf.
Trump’s deportations in numbers
Arrests by ICE have increased 25% since Trump took office.
By the end of April, an estimated 139,000 migrants had been deported from the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Eerie parallels to infamous 鈥楧eath Flights鈥
Thousands of people disappeared in the Dirty War 鈥 many were thrown alive from planes (Picture: Getty)
There is no evidence to suggest the Trump administration is throwing deportees off planes into the sea.
But it has happened before in other countries.
Between 1976 and 1983, thousands of dissidents under Argentina鈥檚 dictatorship disappeared.
Many of them were murdered in 鈥楧eath Flights鈥 鈥 which are exactly what they sound like. Hundreds of flights took off between 1977 and 1978 alone.
The military would round up dissidents and put them on flights over the ocean, often drugged, and throw them into the sea.
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