FACT CHECK: X Post Links Image From 2021 Afghanistan Withdrawal To US Deportation Flights
An image shared on X purports to show a U.S. deportation flight.
This is a US deportation flight looks like.
— David Ditch Jr.🇺🇸🦅 (@DavidjDitch) January 28, 2025
Verdict: Misleading
Although deportation flights have been occurring under President Donald Trump in 2025, the image shows 600 Afghans on a U.S. military plane that left Kabul in August 2021, according to Reuters.
Fact Check:
The Trump administration revoked a decision that would have protected around 600,000 Venezuelans from deportation, according to The Associated Press. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem reversed a move from the Biden administration extending Temporary Protected Status, the outlet reported.
The X image purports to show a U.S. deportation flight. “This is [what] a US deportation flight looks like,” the image’s caption reads. The image shows a large group of people sitting on the floor of a crowded plane.
The claim is misleading. Although deportation flights have been occurring under Trump in 2025, the image shows 600 Afghans on a U.S. military plane that left Kabul in August 2021, according to Reuters. The image was featured in an Aug. 17, 2021 article from the outlet highlighting the U.S.’s evacuation from Afghanistan at the time.
“Evacuees crowd the interior of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, carrying some 640 Afghans to Qatar from Kabul, Afghanistan,” the image’s caption reads. According to the image’s caption, the photo was taken on Aug. 15, 2021.
Likewise, the image has not been featured in any recent credible news reports about U.S. deportation flights. Actually, the opposite is true. On Jan. 30, Misbar debunked the claim, indicating it originally stemmed from the same August 2021 Reuters article. The photo was also published by Al Jazeera in August 2021, the outlet reported. (RELATED: Viral X Video Does Not Authentically Show U.S. Military Vehicles Patrolling The Border)
Since Trump began his second presidential term in January 2025, U.S. deportation flights to Colombia, Guatemala, and Brazil have occurred.
