U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flights around and out of the U.S. at an all time high this summer — according to activists tracking those government flights. The uptick comes as the Trump administration ramps up its mass deportation campaign.
The agency contracts with a airline broker called CSI Aviation, which then charters flights with airline carriers. The Trump administration has vastly increased that capacity by adding military planes and commercial airlines like the budget carrier Avelo Airlines — which began conducting deportation flights out of the Mesa airport this spring.
Tom Cartwright is retired financial executive turned immigration rights activist who's been tracking ICE flights for the last six years. He says starting things started picking up in May.
“So up until about mid-May, typically I would see somewhere in the neighborhood of eight to 12 planes each day flying for ICE Air. And then, around mid-day, that really moved up to more like 13 to 15,” he said.
His July report shows more than 1,200 ICE flights in total — both deportation flights and domestic shuttles from state-to-state. It’s the highest monthly total he’s ever recorded.
“The only other time flights were anywhere near the level they are now was back in 2021, with the mass deportation of Haitians,” Cartwright said.
Cartwright has tracked 329 domestic ICE flights that took off from Phoenix so far this year, one of the highest of any U.S. city.
He says August is expected to be another high month for ICE flights. That report will be published by Human Rights First — the immigrant rights group Cartwright is joining that will take on and expand his tracking project.
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