The number of ICE flights is skyrocketing – but the planes are harder to track

Summary

Federal agencies Aviation news Immigration Donald Trump See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link Richmond, Virginia — Amid the hubbub of passengers and planes shuttling in and out of the international airport in Richmond, Virginia, each week there’s also a steady stream of flights bearing men and women in handcuffs. Last week, CNN was there to see some of these passengers — detainees in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — being unloaded from unmarked white vans, lined up under the wing of a Boeing 737. One by one, some 50 detainees were told to board the aircraft. According to data from immigrant advocacy group Witness at the Border, Richmond is one of about 70 domestic hubs that the Trump administration has used as stoppage points for ICE flights that shuttle detainees in its custody between detention centers around the country, with the goal of eventually deporting them. As President Donald Trump moves to remove as many as 1 million immigrants a year from the US, putting more detainees on more airplanes, and with more frequency, has become a key feature of carrying out that endeavor. Though flights have been a part of US immigration operations for years, the speed and scale of the ICE program today is unprecedented. Since Trump’s inauguration, there have been more than 1,000 deportation flights to other countries, up 15% over the January to July period last year, according to Witness at the Border. The flights are operated by a mix of private charter companies and at least one commercial airline, who are subcontractors to ICE, with a smaller portion carried out by military aircrafts. But recently, experts have noticed a new trend. Beginning in March, major companies operating the flights began requesting that their tail numbers — identifiers for planes akin to license plates on cars — be removed from public flight-tracking websites, according to Ian Petchenik of Flightradar24, one such website. These websites provide real-time tracking of flights,...