Hundreds of illegal immigrant criminals arrested, hundreds flown out by U.S. military

Hundreds of "illegal immigrant criminals" in the United States were arrested Thursday and hundreds of others were flown out of the country on military aircraft as President Trump's promised mass deportation operation got underway, the White House said.

In a post on X Thursday night, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "The Trump Administration arrested 538 illegal immigrant criminals including a suspected terrorist, four members of the Tren de Aragua gang, and several illegals convicted of sex crimes against minors." Tren de Aragua is a violent gang that started in Venezuela and has now started to spread into the U.S. It became something of a flashpoint during the presidential campaign.

Those 538 arrests included 373 people with criminal records and 165 people without criminal records aside from immigration violations, according to documentation provided by a senior administration official. Another 1,041 people were removed or repatriated, according to those records. 

Arrests included a 23-year-old Ecuadorian citizen convicted of rape. He was arrested in Buffalo. Another arrest in Buffalo was that of a man from the Dominican Republic who was previously convicted of continuous sexual conduct against a child. In San Francisco, ICE arrested a man convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child aged 14 or younger, and sentenced to 12 years in prison. 

Meanwhile, a defense official said there had been two flights overnight. Both went to Guatemala, according to two sources. A Guatemalan migration official said three flights have arrived: A flight from El Paso, with 80 people, arrived early Friday morning. Another flight from Tucson, which also carried 80 people, arrived at around 7 a.m., and a third flight from El Paso with around 105 people arrived Friday afternoon.

Leavitt stated, "The Trump Administration also deported hundreds of illegal immigrant criminals via military aircraft. The largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway."

President Trump was asked about the flights upon landing in Asheville, North Carolina, where he was surveying the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene late last year. He told reporters, "Deportation is going very well. We're getting the bad, hard criminals out." He added, "These are people that have been as bad as you get, as bad as anybody you've seen. We're taking them out first." The Trump administration has not released further criminal information about those who were on the deportation flights.

Three officials say the plan to use military aircraft for the deportation flights was approved under the Trump administration, not the Biden administration. The flights are part of the actions the acting secretary of defense announced on Wednesday following Mr. Trump's executive action ordering the U.S. military to step up its presence on the border. 

Mr. Trump promised a crackdown on illegal immigration during the campaign and began his second term this week with a flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling the U.S. immigration system.

For the full read, visit CBS News.