Reports that deported migrants had faced mistreatment stirred an uproar in India ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Washington.

But while the optics make for good political theatre, the flights are expensive -- as much as $1 million in the case of a recent deportation to India, according to an AFP analysis. In fact military flights can end up costing more than three times as much as a civilian trip,

Guatemala has pledged a 40% increase in deportation flights carrying Guatemalans and migrants of other nationalities from the United States, President Bernardo Arévalo announced Wednesday during a press conference with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The first flight carrying migrants to Guantanamo Bay arrived Tuesday evening, a U.S. Transportation Command official said.

President Donald Trump's administration is flying detained migrants to Latin American countries, but online claims that an image shows hundreds of people crammed inside one such aircraft are false. The photo dates to 2021 and shows a US Air Force flight evacuating people from Afghanistan after Taliban insurgents retook power.

Military planes are being used for deportations to expedite the process quickly and efficiently, with little concern for costs, as part of Donald Trump's national emergency on illegal immigration.