Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is advocating for ICE to purchase its own fleet of planes to boost deportation capacity under the Trump administration’s immigration agenda.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is pushing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to own and operate a fleet of airplanes for deportations, according to a new report.
The move would mark a major shift from ICE’s reliance on chartered aircraft and could significantly increase deportation capacity. The agency currently charters eight to 14 planes for deportation flights.
Jason Houser, ICE’s former chief of staff, told NBC News that during the Biden administration, ICE deported about 15,000 people monthly using charter planes. He estimated that reaching “30,000 to 35,000 removals monthly, you would need to double the number of planes” or purchase about 30 aircraft.
Acquiring planes could cost between $2.4 billion and $12 billion, as commercial airliners range from $80 million to $400 million each. Currently, ICE spends about $25,000 per flight hour on charters, sometimes paying up to $200,000 per trip.
The Trump administration has pledged to deport one million undocumented immigrants annually. Internal documents reveal plans to expand detention capacity to 107,000 beds by next year, including “mega-detention” centers in at least five new states.
Congress has allocated $30 billion for deportation operations under what the administration calls the “big, beautiful bill.”