11/22/20
By Tom Cartwright
DEATH FLIGHTS - WEEK OF 16 November – please share for transparency
FINALLY, AT LEAST 2 BACK TO BACK HURRICANES SLOW ICE AIR (photo is Deportation Destination Airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras)
Ø 17 DEPORTATION FLIGHTS. 4-5 FEWER BECAUSE THERE WERE NO FLIGHTS TO HONDURAS AND 1-2 FEWER BECAUSE ONLY 1 TO EL SALVADOR BECAUSE OF HURRICANE “Eta” AND “Iota.”
Ø 5 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
Ø 76 TOTAL FLIGHTS – FEWEST WEEKLY SINCE WEEK OF 31 MAY
WEEKLY SUMMARY
- 76 Total Flights. Down 20 from last week, and 32 below the last 6-week average of 108
- 17 Deportations – Down 5 from last week, and 10 below prior 6-week average. Third week of no flights to Honduras because of Hurricane Eta when usually 4-5. To 5 different countries in Latin America.
- Honduras (0), No flights to Honduras because of Eta and Iota For the 3rd week in a row resulting in the suspension of 12-15 flights based on patterns. We question if all Hondurans under Title 42 (CDC order) are just being expelled to Mexico, or if they are being held pending a continuation of flights. This may be more because the airport is flooded and less because ICE cares about humanitarian concerns. See Guatemala below. For at least 3 months before now, there were never more that 4 per week, but for the last few months at 4-5 per week. We will have to watch closely next week and the following to see any resumption.
- Nicaragua (0) – even though ICE Air felt compelled to send a flight there last week as the storm approached, they were unable to do so this week.
- Guatemala (5), same as last week and in line with a typical week. However, over a week ago and before Iota, the President of Guatemala asked the US to suspend deportations and offer Guatemalans in the US Temporary Protected Status for humanitarian reasons because of Eta. How did ICE respond? With 3 that week following the request and 5 this week. That speaks volumes to the void of humanitarian concern of ICE and this administration.
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Ø 1.8 million people in Honduras have been affected by Eta, which was the worst natural disaster in Central America since Hurricane Mitch in 1998. It was one of the most destructive storms there ever recorded. 37,000 Hondurans are in shelters and 153,000 hectares of crops have been damaged or destroyed. 640,000 people in Guatemala have been impacted with 10,000 in shelters . Here is a detailed update form the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Ø Iota hammered Nicaragua and extended more flooding to Honduras. Guatemala was not without impacts as well
Ø For years after Mitch there was a significant migration North and many believe it is highly likely that we will start to see this soon.People have not only lost hope, but all their belongings and their source of their livelihood. Climate migration will be a powerful future force and it is here now.
Ø Moreover, even if air fields are open for flights the social safety nets in these countries are well beyond their maximum and the US in good conscience should suspend all deportations to Central America. But, we doubt ICE will do that. They already ignored that request from the President of Guatemala (above). Representative Velasquez offered legislation to provide TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for citizens of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua so they would not be returned in the midst of this crisis. We suspect ICE will not care.
- Mexico (9), Same as last week and typical of almost every week over the last three months. August was 7 per week and August and September stepped up to 9. Flights to 6 different cities this week, and similar to every week: Mexico City (2), Guadalajara (2), Puebla (1), Morelia (1), Villahermosa (1), and Queretaro (2).
- El Salvador (1), Down 3 from last week’s unusually high 4 which was the first time since the pandemic began that there had been that many in one week. It appears they were anticipating the storm and accelerated flights the prior week. Rather than hold off in a Hurricane crisis, they decided to send 2x-4x as many flights before the storm.
- Jamaica (1), The last fight was 3 weeks before and they deport there sporadically.
- Dominican Republic (1), Continues on a very regular pattern of every other week.
- 10 Deportation US Connections, down 4 from last week, and 6 below recent 6-week average of 16.
- 17 Deportation Returns, down 2 from last week, and down 7 from the prior 6 week average and consistent level of deportations.
- 32 Shuffle flights in the US, down 9 from last week, 9 below from the last 6-week average.
Ø NOTEWORTHY THIS WEEK
Ø The Detainee population dropped 470 this week, a little less than the prior 4-week average drop of 552.The population of 16,693 is under half of what it was at the end of February. The 4 -week drop has been about 2,100. The combined August / September drop was only about 1,800.
Ø Through October, 265,000 asylum seekers have been turned back and expelled under the illegal CDC order (title 42) since mid-March, 59,700 alone in September, or 90% of all encounters. Almost 13,000 unaccompanied children have been expelled into danger alone since mid-March according to the ACLU press release describing the Court order that now prohibits unaccompanied children from being expelled under Title 42.
- It has been reported by CBP that the few that may not qualify to be expelled, some not from Mexico or Northern Triangle Countries, are still being enrolled in MPP. We understand around 1,000 in September.
Ø 7,339 detainees have tested positive for COVID, up this week by 137 or .2%. Testing increased last week by 2,224 to 62,080 on a cumulative basis, so the positivity rate was around 12%. There are 429 detainees in isolation of under monitoring, up slightly by 63 from last week.
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Note: ICE Air does not disclose their flights. Flight listing gleaned from public flight information, knowledge of detention center locations, air charter services and historic patterns. In rare cases, there may be a flight we miss, or include in error.