Flight of the convicts

A security guard keeps an eye on his dangerous convict passengers. The criminals are manacled on their deportation flights from Houston to El Salvador. Photo / Morten Andersen

It's 4.30am and huge spotlights illuminate the runway. An ageing Boeing-737 - paint peeling, no name and no identification - is ready for loading at the cargo area of the George Bush international airport in Houston, Texas.

Federal agents carrying shotguns form a perimeter guard inside a chain-link fence topped with razor wire. Three sleek white buses with the words Homeland Security written on the side roll to a stop.

Steel grates cover the windows. The driver is protected by a cage: armoured doors and thick glass separate him from his passengers - 42 prisoners.

As a I step into the bus a roar builds from the back.

Men's voices, thick Spanish accents: "Mother**** Yo! I am going to kill yooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

The prisoners include Mexican Mafia gangsters and members of the notorious MS-13, "Mara Salvatrucha", a gang known for tattooing their faces and slaughtering their enemies. Each wears handcuffs and thick metal ankle chains so tight he must take baby steps to avoid falling. A waist chain pulls his hands so he cannot even scratch his face.

As the prisoners leave the bus, burly security guards form two rows and search each convict for hidden weapons. A guard aims a flashlight into prisoners' mouth. Shoes are inspected, investigated and pulled apart. ("There is a kind of sneakers that have metal in them," a guard later tells me. "The guys could make a knife out of it.")

Next to the prisoners are three rows of clear plastic bags. These are the inmates' possessions. Inside one bag is a Bible, toothbrush, letters and a red belt buckle, cow horns raised, testament to a macho swagger that has now been reduced to the clank of chains, and the shuffle of sneakers with no laces. To prevent suicide, belts and shoelaces are removed for the flight.

Mexicans are loaded first aboard the aircraft. These are not typical hard working Mexican immigrants. This is the 1 per cent who crossed the line and became criminals - robbing, attacking and stealing their way to the American Dream.

One by one, the prisoners shuffle up the boarding stairs. They are directed to stay seated, keep quiet and obey orders. Instead of passport numbers, the passenger manifest on this flight lists their most recent crime - drug trafficking, indecency with a child, assault, drunk driving, drug sales, theft, assault, aggravated assault, and sexual assault ... it's a long, ugly list.

"I would rather die of hunger in Mexico, than come back here," says 25-year-old Carlos Rojas, as the plane loitered on the runway.