12/6/20

By Tom Cartwright

DEATH FLIGHTS - WEEK OF 30 November – please share for transparency

Ø STILL NO FLIGHTS TO HONDURAS BECAUSE OF HURRICANES ETA AND IOTA. PRIOR WEEKS THERE WERE 4-5 PER WEEK.

Ø STILL, 20 DEPORTATION FLIGHTS TO 8 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN.

Ø 96 TOTAL FLIGHTS, EQUAL TO THE LAST 6-MONTH AVERAGE

WEEKLY SUMMARY

- 96 Total Flights. Up 15 from last week (Thanksgiving week), and equal to the last 6-week average.

- 20 Deportations – Up 1 from last week, and 2 below prior 6-week average. 5th week of no flights to Honduras because of Hurricanes Eta and Iota when there were usually 4-5 per week. To 8 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-to late 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. The President of Honduras was in the US this week for 4 days and the Foreign Minister asked officially for the US to provide TPS (temporary protected status) for Hondurans here.

- Dominican (1), Continues in an every other week pattern.

- Guatemala (3), up 1 from last week and 2 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 (3), Down 1 from last week and slightly ahead of what would be historic patterns. However, 1 flight was coupled with a flight to Guatemala and 1 with a flight to Ecuador.

- Columbia (1), up 1 from last week, and the 1st in 8 weeks. Before they were sporadic about every 4-5 weeks.

- Ecuador (1), Down 1 from last week and fairly consistent with 1 to 2 per week. The flight was coupled with an El Salvador flight.

- Brazil (1), Up 1 from last week and consistent with 1 every 4-5 weeks of late. Coupled with the Brazil flight.

- Guyana (1), Up 1 from last week and first one in 10 weeks and only the second of the year. It was coupled with the Brazil flight.

- 15 Deportation Connects, up 3 from last week and 2 above the last 6-week average and consistent with deportations.

- 18 Deportation Returns, up 2 from last week, and 3 below the prior 6-week average and consistent level of deportations.

- 43 Shuffle flights in the US, up 9 from last week, and 3 above the last 6-week average.

Ø NOTEWORTHY THIS WEEK

Ø The Detainee population INCREASED 95 this week, a very small increase but the first increase in many months. The population of 16,709 is under half of what it was at the end of February. We wonder if it is related to the lower number of flights to Honduras and Guatemala, although if Title 42 expulsions they would not be in the detainee numbers.

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 7,622 detainees have tested positive for COVID, up this week by 146 or .2%. Testing increased last week by 2,701 to 67,660 on a cumulative basis, so the positivity rate was around 11%. The average number tested over the last 5 weeks has been very consistent. There are 357 detainees in isolation of under monitoring, almost the same as last week.

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.