The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently signed a contract for nearly $140 million to acquire six Boeing 737 aircraft for deportation operations. This move will allow the agency to operate its own fleet, according to The Washington Post. Until now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) relied on charter flights from private companies to carry out deportations. According to the information disclosed, the purchase will be funded with part of the $170 billion approved by Congress earlier this year to support President Donald Trump's border and immigration agenda for the next four years, resources included in the broad fiscal package pushed by the Republican Party and approved in July. The specific models of these 737s are not yet known, which can accommodate between 85 and up to 200 people depending on the configuration. Trump's Deportation Promise. The announcement comes after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem indicated on previous occasions that she would like her agency to have its own planes to carry out deportations. A month ago, The Wall Street Journal revealed that the secretary had ordered ICE to purchase ten Boeing 737 aircraft from Spirit Airlines, but the operation did not materialize. Trump has accelerated the number of migrant detentions within the country, with the goal of fulfilling his campaign promise to carry out the largest number of deportations in "U.S. history." However, the government has not published official data on how many people have been expelled so far this year, since the republican took office in January. According to data leaked to CNN at the end of August, ICE had deported nearly 200,000 people in the first seven months of the year.
