Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Photo / Sarah L. Voisin, The Washington Post
The Department of Homeland Security recently signed a contract worth nearly US$140 million ($240m) to purchase six Boeing 737 planes for deportations.
The move will allow the agency to operate its own fleet after receiving a massive funding increase from Congress.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the arm of DHS that carries out deportation flights, has long relied on charter planes, but two officials familiar with the contract and records reviewed by the Washington Post indicate Ice has broader plans.
Earlier this year, Congress signed off on US$170 billion for US President Donald Trump’s border and immigration agenda over four years as part of the GOP’s sprawling tax bill.
The money for the planes is coming from that funding, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss information that had not been made public.
The enormous infusion of cash opened the door for the Trump Administration to spend extensively on immigration enforcement to meet the president’s goals of deporting record numbers of immigrants.
Administration officials have set a goal of deporting one million people by the end of Trump’s first year in office.
Trump border tsar Tom Homan said the Administration has made more than 579,000 removals, though it has not published official numbers. Nearly 66,000 immigrants are being held in detention, according to DHS data.
Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokeswoman, said in a statement in response to an inquiry from the Post that the planes would save money “by allowing Ice to operate more effectively, including by using more efficient flight patterns”.
McLaughlin said the effort would save US$279m in taxpayer dollars. She did not offer specifics.
“We are delighted to see the Washington Post is highlighting the Trump Administration’s cost-effective and innovative ways of delivering on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens,” she said in a statement.
She also said that Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “are committed to quickly and efficiently getting criminal illegal aliens OUT of our country”.
Noem previously indicated that she wants Ice to have its own planes for removals.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Noem and her chief adviser, Corey Lewandowski, directed Ice officials to purchase 10 737 planes from Spirit Airlines for deportation flights and their own travel.
But Spirit Airlines did not own the planes, and the planes did not have engines, the newspaper reported, so the purchase never happened.
The DHS contract is with Daedalus Aviation, which was established in February 2024, according to corporate records. A Virginia State Corporation Commission filing dated December 5 lists William Allen Walters as its president and Taundria Cappel as treasurer and chief financial officer.
Daedalus Aviation’s website states that it “offers a full range of commercial and charter aviation services” and “provides comprehensive responsive flight operations tailored to the unique needs of each mission”.
Walters and Cappel are also listed as the chief executive and chief financial officer, respectively, of a separate company, Salus Worldwide Solutions, according to an August 1 corporate filing.
That company’s nearly US$1b contract with DHS to support voluntary “self-deportation” is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit, which described it as an “unlawful, rushed and non-competitive award”.
Walters declined to comment about the US$140m contract for the airplanes. His lawyer did not respond to a separate inquiry about the agreement.
John Sandweg, former acting director of Ice under President Barack Obama, said the purchase reflects how much money Ice has, but he cautioned that the status quo could be more cost-effective.
“It’s so much easier to issue a contract to a company that already manages a fleet of airplanes,” Sandweg said.
“So this move I’m surprised by because what the Administration wants to accomplish, by and large, can be accomplished through charter flights already.”
Another former DHS official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about their former employer, said that the likely rationale for the agency is to increase capacity to do both removals from the US and move people from one facility to another within the country.
The official said previous administrations considered similar ideas but concluded it was too expensive because of costs or the logistical complications of maintaining a fleet of aircraft and flight crew.
The purchase of the planes also raises questions about what DHS will do with them after Trump leaves office.
Ice Air Operations, the agency’s main air transportation division, has relied primarily on charter flight companies for deportation flights.
The use of charter planes has historically given administrations more flexibility to increase or decrease flights, according to people familiar with the operations.
There were 1701 deportation flights to 77 countries from January 20, when Trump took office, to October 31, according to a monthly report by the Ice Flight Monitor from Human Rights First. That organisation tracks Ice Air flights, including transfers within the US and deportations abroad.
Ice Air Operations carried out “the vast majority of US immigration enforcement flights,” the report said.
- Isaac Arnsdorf, Aaron Schaffer, Douglas MacMillan, Maria Sacchetti and Ian Duncan contributed to this report.
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