The Department of Homeland Security has entered into a new agreement to acquire six Boeing 737 aircraft for use in deportation operations, the agency said Wednesday. DHS officials said the purchase is expected to reduce transportation costs and save taxpayers an estimated $279 million.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has historically relied on charter aircraft for removal operations. DHS officials say the addition of a dedicated fleet is intended to make large-scale deportation flights more efficient and reduce overall transportation costs as the administration expands its enforcement efforts, Just the News added.
“These planes will allow ICE to operate more effectively, including by using more efficient flight patterns,” Assistant DHS Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin posted on X. “President Trump and [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem are committed to quickly and efficiently getting criminal illegal aliens OUT of our country.”
The announcement comes as the Trump administration pursues its goal of removing one million migrants by the end of the year. According to border czar Tom Homan, federal authorities have carried out approximately 579,000 deportations to date, and an additional 66,000 migrants remain in detention awaiting processing, Just the News added.
Trump administration officials are increasingly aggressive when it comes to curbing both legal and illegal immigration to the United States following the deadly attack on National Guard troops late last month by an Afghan national let into the country under then-President Joe Biden.
Noem has stated that she will recommend a travel ban on several countries that she claims are contributing significantly to criminal activity in the U.S.
She said in a post on social media on Sunday that she had met with President Donald Trump and decided to suggest “a full travel ban on every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.”
Trump and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shared Noem’s post on their official social media accounts. It is currently unclear which countries the proposed travel ban would affect or when it might be implemented. DHS informed the BBC that it would announce the list soon.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday evening that President Trump had already imposed a travel ban several months ago targeting what the administration described as “third world and failed state” countries. Noem’s new recommendations would broaden the policy to include additional nations.
On 4 June, the White House released a list of 19 countries — primarily in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean — that would be subject to full or partial immigration restrictions.
Noem’s proposed additions would bring the total to roughly 30 countries, according to multiple U.S. officials who spoke with CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. partner.
Before addressing the travel-ban proposal, Noem wrote on social media that roughly 100,000 Afghan nationals entered the United States through the Biden-era Operation Allies Welcome program, adding that the Department of Homeland Security planned to overhaul its vetting procedures.
Officials have identified the suspect in the Washington, D.C., shooting as an Afghan national who arrived in 2021 under the same program, which was created to resettle Afghans who had assisted U.S. forces during the country’s 20-year military presence in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel criticized what he described as the Biden administration’s “emblematic failure” following the Nov. 26 shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., during an appearance on “The Ingraham Angle.”
“The problem with this case shows the emblematic failure of the Biden administration to vet anyone who came here from Afghanistan after the disastrous withdrawal,” Patel said.
One of the individuals attacked, 24-year-old Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, is still recovering and in critical condition, while a fellow member from the West Virginia Army National Guard, 20-year-old U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, died from her wounds.
