Unfriendly Skies
U.S immigration authorities used commercial airlines like United, Delta and American to send deportees to Central America
ICE and United, Delta and American
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency bought more than 1,200 tickets, some possibly at discounted rates, on scheduled commercial flights by United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Airlines to deport people to Central America in just over a year, data obtained by Newsweek reveals. The airlines supplemented ICE’S chartered deportation flights, most of those via charter operators Swift Air and World Atlantic Airlines. Newsweek got the information via a Freedom of Information Act request.
The data from ICE shows commercial airlines were used for deportations to Central America in at least 1,386 cases between January 1, 2019 and January 16, 2020. Of those flights, 1,288 were on United, American and Delta, with United used for 677, American for 345 and Delta for 266. The ICE data indicates the number of flights involved, but not the exact number of tickets bought.
Dozens of deportees were also flown aboard commercial flights operated by Colombia’s Avianca and Panama’s Copa Airlines. Additionally
ICE bought two tickets for deportees on Aeromexico and one on Alaska Airlines.
United Airlines referred Newsweek to ICE when contacted for comment. Avianca referred Newsweek to the Colombian government’s migration office. Alaska Airlines, Aeromexico and Copa did not respond to requests for comment.
The majority of the flights were used to deport Central American migrants and asylum seekers to Northern Triangle countries, with 605 flights bound for Honduras, 429 to Guatemala and 79 to El Salvador. About 150 of the flights were headed to San Jose, Costa Rica, while another 100 were bound for Belize City in Belize. Sixty-eight flights went to Panama City in Panama and 16 carried passengers to Managua, Nicaragua.
A large share of flights originated in Texas, which saw a rise in asylum seekers and migrants arriving at its ports of entry over the past year. George Bush Intercontinental Airport
in Houston was a departure point for 246 flights, and Valley International Airport in Harlingen for 204. Other airports, including New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, were also major departure points, with JFK used for nearly 280 flights.
The revelation comes as ICE continues to face scrutiny over its enforcement of the Trump administration’s hardline stance on immigration, such as the family separation policy that saw thousands of migrant children separated from their families at the U.s.–mexico border in 2018. Some airlines refused to cooperate with that practice. United and American released statements expressing their unwillingness to cooperate, while Delta also spoke out against it.
Condemning commercial airlines for continuing to allow ICE to use their flights for deportations, Jess Morales Rocketto, chair of immigration advocacy group Families Belong Together, said the companies should be “ashamed.”
Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-cwa, which represents 50,000 flight attendants also criticized the companies.
“We believe commercial airlines should immediately deny use of commercial aircraft in any deportation or transfer action, until or unless the administration can demonstrate with full transparency that each case is treated in accordance with the law,” she added.
In a statement sent to Newsweek, a Delta spokesperson emphasized that the airline is not responsible for deciding who gets deported. “Ultimately, decisions on individuals’ immigration status are made by immigration judges after often lengthy legal processes involving multiple opportunities for appeal,” the spokesperson said, adding “these are complex and emotional cases for all involved.”
In an email to Newsweek, American Airlines confirmed that ICE uses its flights and noted that the U.S. government is able to purchase tickets from U.S. carriers, including American, at a discounted rate under the City Pair Program. The CPP was designed in 1980 to provide discounted air fare to federal government travelers. American, United, Delta and Alaska are all participants in the CPP, as are Southwest, Jetblue, Hawaiian and Silver Airways. Under the program a flight from JFK or New York’s Laguardia Airport to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, might cost as little as $177, much less than the average fares listed online, some of which are more than $500.
In a statement sent to Newsweek, ICE spokesperson Danielle Bennett stressed “use of CPP is not unique to ICE. It is government wide.”
ICE’S use of the CPP does not suggest that airlines have a partnership with the agency. However, with airlines having previously refused to cooperate with ICE on the family separation policy, Morales Rocketto argues that they could do the same for all deportations.
“The American people already showed they will not tolerate big corporations ignoring our nation’s family values,” she says. “Now, we are sending these airlines that same message.”
The majority of the flights were used to deport Central American migrants and asylum seekers to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.