5/21/20
By Tom Cartwright
DEATH FLIGHTS – 21 May 2020
9 flights today – All shuffle flights within the US. It is striking to me that, with NO deportation flights today, there were still 9 flights shuffling deportees around.
Ø Today was a pause from the extremely busy week to date. Perhaps it was because today Swift Air used 3 of their deportation planes and crews for a different and private purpose today. They shuttled cruise ship crew from San Diego to Barbados to their homes. They had been stranded in their cruise ships. It was an odd flight pattern for ICE Air so we did some quick research to determine why 3 typically ICE Air planes would go to Barbados. We learn more every day.
Ø Guatemalan deportation flights still appear to be on hold because their government is not pleased with the US’s ability to ensure we do not send deportees with COVID there (119 by count of the Guatemalan President). By my count this is their 4th pause since March. The Guatemalan Foreign Ministry announcement last Friday noting the pause said they were working with the CDC and would update shortly. No new announcement has been made yet. Today at a news conference the President of Guatemala was frustrated with the US. He actually said they were a good ally to the US but the US was not a good ally. He bemoaned the fact they have received no ventilators from the US even though most other Central American Cities have in return for passively receiving deportees without testing requirements.
Ø Today we also learned through reporting that the Mexico City ICE Air flights Tuesday that we immediately identified as new are expelling Mexican Nationals only under the CDC order, and not deportees that have been in custody if ICE. That is as we suspected. They are part of the almost now 21,000 sent to Mexico in hours or a few days without the ability to exert legal rights to seek asylum or protection under the CDC order. Other nationalities expelled under the order will continue to be returned to Mexico by land at point on entries.
Ø The Congressional Hispanic Caucus sent a letter to DHS officials urging the administration end to deportation flights in the pandemic and asking some very pointed questions about what has been done to date. They have been very engaged in trying to roll back the hateful policies of this administration and we are extremely grateful for their efforts. A number of other key humanitarian groups also issued today a thorough document outlining the reasons to end deportation flights and the CDC order, in legal and humanitarian terms.
Ø 1,181 detainees have tested positive for COVID, up 18 today. 2,368 have been tested, up 40 today. 50% of those tested have been positive for COVID.
Ø The intrepid tracking expert Karla Rader Barber is now able to identify regular routes. The route for plane 2 below is a regular Thursday route.
Here are the flights for today. The number behind the leg indicates a single individual planes path.
- GREENSBORO to PHOENIX – 1
- MIAMI to COLUMBUS (GA) – 2
- COLUMBUS (GA) to ALEXANDRIA (LA) – 2
- ALEXANDRIA(LA) to BROWNSVILLE – 2
- BROWNSVILLE to MIAMI – 2
- ALEXANDRIA (LA) to PHOENIX - 3
- PHOENIX to ALEXANDRIA (LA) – 4
- ALEXANDRIA (LA) to BROWNSVILE – 4
- BROWNSVILLE to PHOENIX - 4
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.