Page 6 - aruba-today-20181218

A6 U.S. NEWS
Tuesday 18 december 2018

Deported immigrants get their last flight on 'ICE Air'

By NOMAAN MERCHANT tion of New Mexico, was
and ANGELIKI KASTANIS paid $906 million by ICE's
Associated Press removals division since
HOUSTON (AP) — Shackled 2010, when ICE privatized
at their ankles and wrists its flights.
and their shoelaces re- When the plane landed
moved, a long line of men in Houston, about 30 Sal-
and women waited on the vadoran immigrants were
tarmac as a team of of- already on board, flown
ficers patted them down in from Alexandria, Louisi-
and checked inside their ana, an ICE Air hub. They
mouths for anything hid- peered out the windows
den. as the plane sat on the tar-
Then one by one, they mac.
climbed a mobile staircase Two buses arrived, carrying
and onto a charter plane 45 men and five women.
the size of a commercial Their few belongings were
aircraft. in red mesh bags that work-
This was a deportation flight ers sorted on the tarmac.
run by ICE Air. The chains Officers checked each de-
would be removed and In this Nov. 16, 2018, photo, immigrants who entered the United States illegally are deported on a tainee before letting them
the shoelaces returned flight to El Salvador by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Houston. board, a process that took
when the plane landed in Associated Press about 20 minutes.
El Salvador. According to the agency,
An obscure division of U.S. three impoverished Cen- ing them, or holding them agency," Libal said. "In 29 of the 50 people who
Immigration and Customs tral American countries: El in the U.S. for longer than many ways, it's been cap- boarded the plane in Hous-
Enforcement operates hun- Salvador, Guatemala and necessary and tying up tured by the industries that ton had been arrested on
dreds of flights each year to Honduras. space in detention centers. profit from deportation and criminal charges, including
remove immigrants. Depor- According to flight-tracking "I don't want to elongate detention." four who were wanted in
tation flights are big busi- data, deportation flights to anybody's detention with The Associated Press ob- El Salvador for attempted
ness: The U.S. government Guatemala and Hondu- us," said Pat Contreras, di- served a deportation flight murder or homicide, the
has spent approximately ras have sharply increased rector of enforcement and being loaded last month at agency said.
$1 billion on them in the last this year. And ICE's budget removal for ICE's Houston a private terminal of Bush The remaining 21 were
decade, and the Trump request for charter flights field office. "If a judge says Intercontinental Airport in considered non-criminal,
administration is seeking to increased 30 percent last you need to be removed, Houston. meaning they were being
raise ICE's budget for char- year compared to the year we should be expeditiously The Boeing 737 had no deported for immigration
ter flights by 30 percent. before. working to execute that or- markings suggesting it was violations. Twenty of the 50
ICE Air Operations trans- The agency estimated last der so that person does not a deportation flight. In- had been deported be-
ports detained immigrants year that it spends about spend any longer in deten- stead, it had the insignia of fore.
between American cities $7,785 per hour on the tion than necessary." Swift Air, a private compa- ICE would not let AP report-
and, for those with final re- flights. But migrant advocacy ny that also flies charters for ers view the inside of the
moval orders, back to their ICE shifted to chartering groups say ICE Air is an ex- political campaigns and plane, but officials said the
home countries. About private planes about a de- ample of how tougher im- professional sports teams, flights are orderly and qui-
100,000 people a year are cade ago after previously migration enforcement — including the NHL's Boston et. A meal is served, and a
deported on such flights. using a government ser- from detention to tracking Bruins and Chicago Black- doctor is on board. But all
While Mexican immigrants vice with the U.S. Marshals. to removal — enriches pri- hawks. In this case, Swift Air detainees — even those
are generally flown to The agency says moving to vate companies. had been hired by Classic considered non-criminal —
southern U.S. cities and private flights saves about "The way you would save Air Charters, a Huntington, remain shackled until the
then driven to the border $25 million a year and gave money on ICE Air is by de- New York-based company plane lands.
so they can cross over, it more flexibility. Charter porting fewer people, not that won ICE's deportation "We try and be as humane
Central Americans have to flights also avoid putting by privatizing the industry," flights contract last year. as we can with everything
be transported by air. And large numbers of deported said Bob Libal, director Classic Air has been paid that we do," Contreras said.
the large numbers of Mexi- immigrants on commer- of Grassroots Leadership, $51 million this year by "We try to make them safe.
cans who used to cross the cial planes, which requires which opposes immigration ICE, according to federal We want to make sure that
border have largely been buying tickets for deporta- detention. spending records. The pre- not one individual does
replaced by migrants from tion officers accompany- "ICE is a largely privatized vious contractor, CSI Avia- anything wrong."q