The Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that 116 Chinese nationals were deported back to China, a move that came after a surge of Chinese migrants entering at the U.S. southern border in recent years.

The charter flight took place over the weekend and in coordination with the Chinese government, according to the DHS, which said it was the first large such flight since 2018. 

The removal operation followed recent engagement between U.S. and Chinese authorities. In early June, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong held a videoconference discussing deepening cooperation in such areas as drug control, repatriation of migrants and combating transnational crime, according to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

The U.S. started to see a surge in Chinese migrants coming through Latin America in 2023. Since the start of the government’s budget year in October through May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have apprehended 31,077 Chinese nationals along the southwestern border, about a quarter of total arrests at the border during the period.