11/30/20
By Tom Cartwright
DEATH FLIGHTS - WEEK OF 23 November – please share for transparency
Ø ICE AIR TAKES THANKSGIVING OFF – ALMOST: 1 DEPORTATION TO GUADELAJARA ON THANKSGIVING.
Ø 19 DEPORTATION FLIGHTS. 4-5 FEWER BECAUSE THERE WERE NO FLIGHTS TO HONDURAS STILL REELING FROM HURRICANE “Eta” AND “Iota.”
Ø 6 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
Ø 81 TOTAL FLIGHTS ABOUT AVERAGE ON A DAILY BASIS
WEEKLY SUMMARY
- 81 Total Flights. Up 5 from last week, and 15 below the last 6-week average of 103
- 19 Deportations – Up 2 from last week, and 6 below prior 6-week average. 4th week of no flights to Honduras because of Hurricanes Eta and Iota when usually 4-5. To 6 different countries in Latin America.
- Honduras (0), No flights to Honduras because of Eta and Iota For the 4rd week in a row resulting in the suspension of 16-20 flights based on patterns. The last flight was Friday, 30 October before Eta hit Honduras on the following Wednesday. The airport was flooded also by Iota and it is not estimated to open until mid-December. It is unknown if ICE Air will try to fly to an alternative location in Honduras. We do not know 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. The suspension 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 (1), even if face of storm damage ICE Air continues with a flight every other week.
- Guatemala (2), down 3 from last week and 3 below a typical week. We do not know the reason for the slow down. 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. But ICE responded with 3 the week following the request and 5 the next week. There have been large protests demanding President Giammattei’s resignation, primarily related to the budget recently passed, but it does not seem likely that is the reason.
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 (4), Up 3 from last week and that makes 9 in the last 3 weeks which is unusual, at least since the pandemic began. Normally there had been about 2 per week. 2 of the flights were coupled with flights to Ecuador.
- Haiti (1), up 1 from last week. There has been 1 per week for the last 5 weeks with the exception of 0 last week.
- Ecuador (2), Up 2 from last week and fairly consistent with 1 to 2 per week. Both were coupled with El Salvador flights.
- 12 Deportation Connects, down 1 from last week and 7 below the last 6-week average and consistent with deportations.
- 16 Deportation Returns, up 2 from last week, and down 3 from the prior 6 week average and consistent level of deportations.
- 34 Shuffle flights in the US, up 2 from last week, and 6 below the last 6-week average.
Ø NOTEWORTHY THIS WEEK
Ø The Detainee population dropped just 79 this week, significantly below the last 4-week average drop of 533.The population of 16,614 is under half of what it was at the end of February.
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 7,476 detainees have tested positive for COVID, up this week by 137 or .2%. Testing increased last week by 2,879 to 64.959 on a cumulative basis, so the positivity rate was around 13%. The average number tested over the last 5 weeks has been very consistent. There are 350 detainees in isolation of under monitoring, down by 79 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.