UPDATE 1-Repatriation of Mexican deportees to interior begins with first U.S. flight

The U.S. government on Thursday began sending Mexican deportees to the interior of Mexico starting with a flight to the city of Guadalajara, U.S. and Mexican officials said, in the latest step by both nations to restrict migration flows.

The officials declined to be identified because they were not authorized to talk to the media. In recent years, Central American migrants and asylum-seekers have comprised a large percentage of deportees. Mexicans sent back to their country have usually been returned to U.S.-Mexico border crossings.

U.S. President Donald Trump has made clamping down on unlawful migration a top priority of his three-year-old term in office and his looming 2020 reelection campaign. He has pressured the Mexican and Central American governments to better patrol their borders to thwart migrants as well as having those petitioning for U.S. asylum protections to wait for court dates outside the United States, or seek refuge elsewhere.