Latest news with #ICEAirOperations
Los Angeles Times
11 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
ICE flights out of L.A. area more than doubled in the last month
Flights out of Los Angeles area airports related to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations more than doubled in the month before Sunday. ICE increased its activity in the region this month, conducting multiple raids, including one on June 6 in the Fashion District. As a result of the raids, 330 people have been arrested as of June 11, according to the White House, some of whom were flown out of the area. ICE hasn't released many details regarding detainees. An ICE spokesperson told The Times that the agency does not provide details about future flights for security reasons. 'ICE field offices coordinate with ICE Air Operations, headquartered in Mesa, Ariz., to arrange removal travel and domestic transfers, which are conducted using both commercial airlines and ICE Air charter aircraft,' the spokesperson said in an email. The Times reviewed and analyzed public flight data compiled by Tom Cartwright, a volunteer immigration advocate at Witness at the Border who tracks ICE flights. Cartwright has tracked about 36,000 ICE flights over five years by using publicly available plane details and flight patterns. Since the June raids began, nearly 70% of deportation-related flights out of the L.A. region have originated out of the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, near the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The airport in Victorville is a public-use airport where charter airlines can operate nonscheduled private flights. Sue Jones, a spokesperson for Victorville, told The Times that because flight details are not tracked, the city cannot confirm ICE-related activity. There have also been reports of flights out of the Los Angeles area departing from other airports, including Burbank International and Meadows Field in Bakersfield. Since June 6, a quarter of the flights have gone directly to nearby Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. About a fifth of flights head to El Paso, where the Mexican Consulate told The Times that some seized in L.A. are being detained. In addition to its headquarters, ICE Air Operations operates primarily from Miami; Alexandria, La.; and San Antonio and Brownsville, Texas. Charter planes making ICE-related flights can make multiple stops or transfers in a day, both inside and outside the United States. However, the journey the passengers take — where they board and disembark — cannot be tracked using publicly available data. Overall, from Jan. 1 through May, ICE has made 685 deportation stops to more than 30 international destinations, according to Witness at the Border's latest report. Roughly the same as the same time last year. ICE confirmed to The Times that the agency regularly flies deportees to countries in Central America, including Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, as well as other parts of the world 'for special high-risk missions.' For planes flying through Victorville, some made stops later at airports in cities such as Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Harlingen, Texas. Other destinations outside the continental U.S. include: San Juan, Puerto Rico; San Pedro Sula, Honduras; Tapachula, Mexico; Guatemala City; Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump admin removes migrants from Guantanamo Bay
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have removed deported migrants from a facility on the U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where the Trump administration brought them as part of an effort to remove certain immigrants from the U.S. 'ICE Air Operations transported 177 Venezuelan illegal aliens from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras today for pickup by the Venezuelan government, which returned them to their home country,' ICE wrote in a Thursday post on the social platform X confirming reports of transfers. The Trump administration has aggressively moved to remove individuals who entered the U.S. illegally, setting up agreements with Colombia, Venezuela and El Salvador for those countries to accept deported immigrants. President Trump signed a memo late last month directing the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to prepare a 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay, saying it would be used 'to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.' Guantánamo Bay has been used to house military prisoners, including several involved in the 9/11 attacks, and became infamous for accusations of torture and abuse as the U.S. carried out the war on terrorism. The Biden administration sought to wind down operations there. The Trump administration began flying migrants to Guantánamo Bay days after the president signed the memo, with the Pentagon saying it flew 10 migrants described as 'high-threat individuals' within a week of the directive while Defense Department and Homeland Security officials work to put infrastructure in place. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
21-02-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump admin removes migrants from Guantanamo Bay
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have removed deported migrants from a facility on the U.S. military base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where the Trump administration brought them as part of an effort to remove certain immigrants from the U.S. 'ICE Air Operations transported 177 Venezuelan illegal aliens from Guantanamo Bay to Honduras today for pickup by the Venezuelan government, which returned them to their home country,' ICE wrote in a Thursday post on the social platform X confirming reports of transfers. The Trump administration has aggressively moved to remove individuals who entered the U.S. illegally, setting up agreements with Colombia, Venezuela and El Salvador for those countries to accept deported immigrants. President Trump signed a memo late last month directing the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to prepare a 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay, saying it would be used 'to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people.' Guantánamo Bay has been used to house military prisoners, including several involved in the 9/11 attacks, and became infamous for accusations of torture and abuse as the U.S. carried out the war on terrorism. The Biden administration sought to wind down operations there. The Trump administration began flying migrants to Guantánamo Bay days after the president signed the memo, with the Pentagon saying it flew 10 migrants described as 'high-threat individuals' within a week of the directive while Defense Department and Homeland Security officials work to put infrastructure in place.
