Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are reportedly considering setting up a new airline for the sole purpose of deporting immigrants from the country.
According to NBC News, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wants ICE to use an influx of federal dollars to buy and operate its own aircraft for deportation flights. Sources who spoke to the news outlet said the move would allow ICE to deport many more people per month but would also bring on new expenses, like the cost of maintaining and repairing airplanes.
ICE currently contracts with outside companies to fly immigrants out of the U.S.
The Trump administration has vowed to deport 1 million immigrants per year. To reach that target, the federal government would have to greatly increase the capacity of the fleet at its disposal or operate flights more frequently.
According to ICE’s own estimates, between 100,000 and 150,000 people were deported in Trump’s first six months in office, and some of them left on their own, not on the agency’s charter flights.
If ICE were to launch its own airline, it would assume responsibility for purchasing, maintaining, and operating its own aircraft. It would have to hire pilots, mechanics, medics, security personnel, and other supporting staff.
With $75 billion in new funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act—a huge increase from its former annual budget of around $9.5 billion per year—ICE could easily finance the purchase of used airplanes. But it would likely take months or years before an ICE airline could operate at the scale or frequency Trump and Noem would like to see.
It was not clear what aircraft the agency would consider buying, or how many it would seek to obtain.
