ICE Air Has Spent $1 Billion Deporting Immigrants So Far

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operates its own air service to remove detained persons back to their home countries. The government has reportedly spent $1 billion on ICE Air flights over the course of the last decade. AP observed the boarding of one recent ICE Air flight in Texas.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operates its own air service to remove detained persons back to their own countries, AP reports. These deportation flights are operated by ICE Air, which the outlet describes as “an obscure division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement”.

These flights appear to be set to continue, with the Trump administration looking to increase the budget for them by around 30 percent. These flights are operated on chartered craft, with the ICE having made the switch from using commercial airline services a decade ago. This switch from commercial airliners to charter services has been described as a cost-saving measure.

In the last ten years, the government has spent $1 billion on these types of flights, states AP.

“The agency estimated last year that it spends about $7,785 per hour on the flights,” reports the news outlet, adding that around 100,000 immigrants are deported every year in this manner.

This year has also apparently seen a sharp rise in the number of deportation flights to Honduras and Guatemala.

Describing an eyewitness account of a recent deportation flight from Houston, Texas, to El Salvador, the outlet reported that, “The Boeing 737 had no markings suggesting it was a deportation flight … Two buses arrived, carrying 45 men and five women. Their few belongings were in red mesh bags that workers sorted on the tarmac.”

The detained passengers, says the outlet, underwent checks prior to boarding. The news agency was unable to gain access to the inside of the plane, but it said that, “A meal is served, and a doctor is on board. But all detainees — even those considered non-criminal — remain shackled until the plane lands.”

Offering commentary on the removal process, Pat Contreras, director of enforcement and removal at ICE’s Houston field office, told the news agency, “We try and be as humane as we can with everything that we do. We try to make them safe.”

[Photo: Shutterstock]