US Buys Own Boeing 737 Fleet to Speed Trump’s Deportation Push
The US government used six Boeing Co. aircraft to operate deportation flights. It would purchase 737 jets and expand the administration’s efforts to speed up deportations of people without legal status in the country.
The aircraft will be purchased from Daedalus Aviation under a contract worth about $140 million, according to a report first published by the Washington Post and cited by two people familiar with the deal.
Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin confirmed the agreement via email and social media. Contract documents had not yet been posted on federal procurement websites.
“This new initiative will save $279 million in taxpayer dollars by allowing ICE to operate more effectively, including using more efficient flight patterns,” McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, said in an emailed response to questions. “President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to quickly and effectively removing criminal illegal aliens from our country.”
ICE Air Operations, the agency’s main transportation division, currently relies on a mix of chartered planes and commercial flights. It uses 12 planes from centers in Arizona, Texas, Louisiana and Florida to transport detainees between U.S. detention centers and carry out transfers abroad, according to its website. DHS has stated that the new planes will allow it to operate more flights directly rather than contracting them out to ICE. DHS said this change will result in cost savings.
ICE Air has long been one of the agency’s more opaque operations, with limited data on routes, costs and the conditions under which immigrants are transferred.
Boeing 737s are widely used on domestic and short-to-medium-haul international routes, often flying up to 200 people, depending on the model and configuration. Depending on the model, the 737 is available for nonstop flights to hubs throughout the United States, as well as parts of Central America, the Caribbean, and South America.
Daedalus Aviation said on its website that it offers “a full range of commercial and charter aviation services.” No one immediately responded to an emailed request for comment.
The US government has stepped up immigration raids across the country this year, aiming for a target of deporting 1 million people, but it is falling short of that goal. There have been more than 1,700 deportation flights to 77 countries since Trump took office in January, according to Human Rights Watch. The majority of flights carried immigrants from the United States to Latin America and the Caribbean.
At the same time, ICE Air operated more than 6,300 domestic flights to transport immigrants between various U.S. prisons from January to the end of October. That’s more than double the number of intra-agency transfers made during a similar period during the Biden administration, according to Human Rights Watch.
The plane purchase is part of a broader enforcement drive funded by the administration through budget increases of more than $150 billion over the next decade for expanded detentions, transportation, personnel and border operations.
With help from Alicia A. Caldwell.
This article has been generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to the text.
