New Deportation Fleet Established by DHS

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that it has acquired six Boeing 737s to create its own fleet dedicated to deportation flights.

Traditionally, most deportation flights have been contracted out to private charter companies. However, this new move allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by operating its own planes.

This $140 million contract was awarded to Daedalus Aviation Corporation, a firm based in Virginia that was set up in February 2024.

Initially reported by a major newspaper, the DHS faced criticism for how the news was framed. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin expressed frustration that the article didn’t highlight the significant tax savings from this initiative.

“Somehow @WashingtonPost forgot to include somewhere in the article that this new initiative will save US taxpayers $279 million,” McLaughlin tweeted.

“They didn’t want the public to know, right? These planes will allow ICE to operate more effectively, including improving flight patterns,” she continued.

Funding for the aircraft comes from President Donald Trump’s One, Big Beautiful Bill Act, which allocated about $170 billion to DHS for immigration enforcement purposes.

Currently, ICE aims to deport over 600,000 undocumented immigrants by the end of the year. About 70,000 people are awaiting deportation in ICE detention facilities nationwide.

Since Trump’s return to office, the agency has overseen more than 1,700 deportation flights across 77 countries, demonstrating a commitment to fulfilling the administration’s goals regarding mass deportations.