U.S. Resumes Deportation Flights: How do These Work?

On Wednesday, October 18th, the United States resumed flights dedicated to deporting migrants or asylum-seekers back to their original countries.

Deportation flights are an interesting affair since they usually do not involve the usual airlines that we mainly see operating flights across the U.S. Therefore, today, we will discuss how deportation flights work and what the recent resumption of such flights has been directed at.

Deportations to Venezuela

This event is the first time in many years that the United States has begun deporting people to the South American nation of Venezuela. The United States Department of Transportation claims that these deportation flights are in response to "an increase in migration from Venezuela that is straining immigration systems throughout the hemisphere - including in the United States."

The flights are for Venezuelans who have received final removal orders from the U.S. government. These orders are issued after migrants lose asylum or cannot seek humanitarian protection.

On October 18th, the first flight departed from Harlingen, Texas (H.R.L.) with around 130 passengers onboard. Harlingen is a border city and thus can be a big area for people crossing the border into the United States. The flight flew first to Miami (M.I.A.) before continuing to Caracas (C.C.S.), touching down in the Venezuelan capital around 4:30 p.m. local time.

The passengers onboard were shuttled to the plane on buses and reportedly wore wrist and ankle restraints. Because these passengers are not traditional revenue-paying passengers, they did not pass through T.S.A. screening. To provide security, U.S. immigration officers patted down the passengers as they boarded the flight.

The Biden administration has stated its intentions to operate "multiple" deportation flights a week to Venezuela amid the significant increase in illegal immigration from the South American nation.

Who Operates Deportation Flights?

These deportation flights were operated by American charter airline iAero Airways, formerly known as Swift Air, L.L.C. The flights from Harlingen to Caracas via Miami were operated by an iAero 737-800 registered N277EA.

iAero, along with other charter airlines like Eastern Airways, World Atlantic Airlines, and Global Crossing (GlobalX), are most commonly seen operating these deportation flights. After all, these are technically charters.

The United States government has a fleet of charter airlines, collectively known as "I.C.E. Air," included in I.A.O. (I.C.E. Air Operations). "I.C.E.," if you couldn't guess by now, is the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

According to I.C.E., the I.A.O. stages 12 aircraft at its unspecified operational locations in Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. These flights, especially those going to Venezuela, fly from unspecified airports in the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Deportation flights typically carry around 130-135 passengers. This capacity means the flights are usually operated on either Boeing 737, Airbus A320 family, or McDonnell Douglas MD-80 family aircraft.

The Slight Risk of Deportation Flights

Because the United States government operates deportation flights, these flights and the companies contracted to operate them face minimal regulation by agencies.

For this reason, many deportation flights have been struck with incidents ranging from smoke in the cabin to landing gear collapses. On one occasion, a mechanic for World Atlantic Airlines employee showed up to work intoxicated and had various incidents reported by the company before being fired.

I.C.E. has reported these incidents and has prompted charter airline companies to improve their safety practices so that no more lives get put in jeopardy.