ICE Flight Tracker, Aug. 9-15
This is ICE Flight Tracker, a new weekly review of ICE flights, third-country removals, who's profiting, and what you can do.
Five weeks ago, I dashed off an anxious (and semi-embarrassing) Bluesky post about not being able to make a living as an independent journalist covering ICE flights. "I am collapsing under the weight and the lack of impact," I said. I needed a job ASAP, and I thought I might need to leave journalism.
For whatever reason, this post went a little viral, which kicked off an incredible turn of events that will hopefully help me continue exposing ICE's cruel and dangerous air operation for as long as it lasts.
First, WNYC's "On the Media" asked me to come on to talk about ICE flights and the difficulties I've had in getting news about them to the public. The response has been overwhelming and entirely supportive. Thank you all for the kind messages, tips, and the huge increase in subscriptions and one-time contributions. While it didn't solve the problem of wanting an editor or colleagues, it's encouraging to know so many people care about what's happening, and you have helped a lot to relieve my and my family's financial pressures.
Second, I'm excited to tell you I'm starting at The American Prospect on Monday, where I'll be continuing my ICE flight reporting for at least the next six months and possibly permanently. This is the result of a generous grant offer floated to me even before the "On the Media" interview that has now become a reality. (The grantor does not want to be named, but I promise you it isn't Russia or Silicon Valley or some ish like that.) I've admired the Prospect team's unflinching work in this era, especially when a lot of outlets bigger than theirs (even left-leaning ones) seem to have misplaced their spines. And I can tell from their coverage of ICE's concentration camps they don't expect journalists to check their moral compasses at the door.
So while my longer stories will be moving to the Prospect, I'll be keeping the Third-Country Removal Tracker here and up to date. And for subscribers like you, I will be sending a weekly review of ICE flight news, starting with this one.
Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart. Because of all of you, I will be able to focus on this work for the foreseeable future.
—Gillian
ICE Flights This Week
Total Flights Recorded: 471
Total Removal Flights: 68
Third-Country Removal Flights, Confirmed: 1 (Costa Rica)
Third-Country Removal Flights, Likely: 2 (Ecuador, Ghana)
Third-Country Removal Flights, Suspected: 3 (Jamaica, Liberia, Panama)
(All numbers are approximate and based on daily scans of about 80 aircraft in ICE's charter network for flights matching ICE's known flight characteristics.)
FAQ: What Is ICE Air?
Headlines
From Me
Eastern Airlines gets contract to fly DHS 'deportation fleet' – The contract, worth up to $327 million, is for Eastern's subsidiary, Eastern Air Express, to operate and maintain DHS's new "deportation fleet."
The Air Force has been doing secret ICE flights to Honduras for months – At least some of the flights were third-country removals, human rights group says. (And tl;dr: No, they are not throwing people out of these planes.)
Interview: ICE Flights Are a Torture Device | It's the Democracy, Stupid with Edwin Eisendrath
From Everywhere
No ID, No Money, No Way Out: DHS Deports a Man to a Country He Doesn’t Know | NOTUS – A deeply reported and affecting longread from Jose Pagliery about Rogelio Bolufé, one of the leaders of the Delaney Hall hunger strike, who was expelled to a dangerous city in Ecuador and is trying to figure out where to go next.
Cuban Asylum Seeker Deported to Africa Without ID, Money, or Cell Phone | L.A. Taco – Memo Torres talked with Aristides Fernandez Garcia, a 37-year-old Cuban man who was expelled to Central African Republic on a nightmarish flight on July 31, along with about 30 other people from all over the world.
(Despite Bolufé and Garcia being sent to vastly different countries two months apart, I can't help but notice the nearly identical headlines about what ICE did to them.)
He Was Deported to a Country He'd Never Heard Of. He May Never Go Free. | NYT Magazine – I had heard NYT had finally gotten access to the men sent to the country formerly known as Swaziland, and my god does Nicholas Casey deliver. A stunning account (with equally stunning photos) of Roberto Mosquera's 13 months (so far) in an Eswatini prison.
Homeland Security Paid $464 million for Airplanes. Then It Parked Them. | New York Times – I threw NYT some shade for appending a "TIMES EXCLUSIVE" label on this story, the bulk of which has been previously reported by others, including me. But there are some new nuggets here in the ongoing saga of DHS's rapid acquisition of airplanes, and if nothing else, it's a good summary.
Do Something
"Issa" lived with family in Cincinnati before ICE expelled him to a prison in Eswatini, a country where he has no ties. The good news is he is being released. The bad news is he's being sent to a country where he, as a gay man, will not be safe, and he will need to leave immediately. Ohio Immigrant Alliance is urgently fundraising to help him get somewhere safe and get on his feet.
Thank you for reading. I am a former Washington Post staff writer, and as far as I know, I’m the only journalist in America covering ICE flights full time. Please share this newsletter and consider subscribing, so I can continue this important work. –Gillian
