The Trump administration is buying its own fleet of planes for the mass deportation of immigrants
US military plane during a deportation flight of illegal immigrants. Photo: Handout / AFP / Profimedia
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Wednesday that it will acquire its own fleet of Boeing planes to better enforce the policy of mass deportation of undocumented immigrants desired by President Donald Trump, writes AFP.
“These devices will allow ICE to operate more efficiently, particularly through the use of faster flight frequencies,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said Wednesday on the X Network, confirming information previously reported by the Washington Post.
According to the American daily, DHS has concluded an agreement for the purchase of six Boeing 737 aircraft, for an amount of almost 140 million dollars, from Daedalus Aviation, which specializes in commercial and charter aviation services.
Contacted by AFP, the Boeing company did not want to comment on the information.
The DHS spokeswoman added that “this action will save US taxpayers $279 million” compared to the price of new planes purchased from Boeing, whose orders are full until at least 2030 anyway.
The US president has made the pursuit of illegal immigrants, which he has entrusted to ICE agents, often in disguise, one of his priorities since returning to power in January and has implemented a policy of mass deportation.
According to the American NGO Human Rights First, since January there have been more than 1,700 flights of this type, to dozens of countries.
International organizations denounce numerous human rights violations committed by ICE as part of this anti-immigration policy, challenged in court and vehemently criticized by the democratic opposition.
According to the Trump administration, more than two million illegal immigrants have left the United States since January: 400,000 have been deported and 1.6 million have left voluntarily.
