U.S. President Donald Trump’s army deportation flight to Guatemala on Monday probably value a minimum of $4,675 per migrant, in accordance with knowledge offered by U.S. and Guatemalan officers.
That’s greater than 5 instances the $853 value of a one-way firstclass ticket on American Airways from El Paso, Texas, the departure level for the flight, in accordance with a overview of publicly accessible airfares.
It is usually considerably greater than the price of a business constitution flight by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Trump launched the army deportation flights final week as a part of his nationwide emergency declaration on immigration, to date sending six planeloads of migrants on flights to Latin America.
Solely 4 have landed, all of them in Guatemala, after Colombia refused to let two U.S. C-17 cargo plane land and as an alternative despatched its personal planes to gather migrants following a standoff with Trump.
A U.S. official, chatting with Reuters on situation of anonymity, estimated the associated fee to function a C-17 army transport plane is $28,500 per hour. The flight backwards and forwards to Guatemala, not together with time on the bottom or any operations to arrange the flight for takeoff, took about 10-1/2 hours within the air to finish, the official stated.
A Guatemalan official informed Reuters the army transport aircraft landed on Monday with 64 folks on board.
The Pentagon didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Trump, talking at his Doral golf membership to Republican lawmakers on Monday, vowed his unprecedented use of army plane for deportations would proceed and any international locations that refuse will “pay a high economic price.”
“For the first time in history, we are locating and loading illegal aliens into military aircraft and flying them back to the places from which they came,” Trump stated to applause.
“We’re respected again, after years of laughing at us like we’re stupid people.”
White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted photos final week of migrants boarding up the again ramp of a hulking C-17, saying, “President Trump is sending a strong and clear message to the entire world: if you illegally enter the United States of America, you will face severe consequences.”
The C-17 price ticket is considerably greater than the choice: business plane chartered by ICE.
Prices for the constitution ICE flights differ. In keeping with info posted on ICE’s web site in 2021, the associated fee for “Ice Air” flights is $8,577 per flight hour. However appearing ICE Director Tae Johnson informed lawmakers throughout an April 2023 price range listening to that deportation flights value $17,000 per flight hour for 135 deportees and sometimes lasted 5 hours.
The upper determine given by Johnson would translate to a price of $630 per particular person, assuming the constitution firm, and never ICE, pays the price of the return flight. A former ICE official stated the associated fee had risen barely since 2023.
ICE says it transports detainees on chartered Boeing 737 or McDonnell Douglas MD-80 sequence plane.
The Pentagon stated final week the U.S. army would offer flights for the deportations of greater than 5,000 immigrants held by U.S. authorities in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego, California.
