This was the first time in recent memory that military aircraft were used to fly migrants out of the country, one U.S. official said.

Castro was one of tens of thousands of migrants across Mexico with appointments to apply for U.S. asylum at the border scheduled out through February until President Donald Trump took office and issued a series of executive orders to beef up border security and slash migration.

Naser Zazai, 29, had planned to reunite with his mother and brother in the United States this week after fleeing Afghanistan, where he says he was threatened and attacked because his brother had once worked for the U.