6/2/20
By Tom Cartwright
DEATH FLIGHTS – 2 June 2020
TODAY WAS AN EXTREMELY BUSY DAY IN EVERY RESPECT. HOW MUCH COVID WAS SPREAD TODAY? NO REQUIRED TESTING BEFORE MOVES. UNAVOIDABLE!
- TUESDAYS ARE ALWAYS BUSY BECAUSE THERE ARE 4 REGULAR ROUTES ON TUESDAY – EVERY WEEK WITH 14-16 LEGS.
29 FLIGHTS TODAY – 9 PLANES IN THE AIR
- 3 DEPORTATIONS – MEXICO (2), DOMINICAN
- 3 DEPORTATION RETURNS
- 1 DEPORTATION CONNECTION
- 22 FLIGHTS SHUFFLING PEOPLE AROUND DETENTION CENTERS. YES, 20.
Ø Today we saw 2 more flights to Mexico City of expelled Mexican nationals under the CDC order. One from San Diego after beginning its route in Phoenix, and one from Brownsville. These flights to Mexico had been suspended when the CDC order went into effect on March 21, but two weeks ago they were reintroduced to take pressure off Mexican border times. At that time, it was announced that there would be 8 flights to May 29. As we suspected, and we predicted here in prior daily reports, they continue.
Ø We also saw a flight NOT take place today because of push back by Portsmouth NH against transfers and the resulting COVID risk. Karla Barber has identified a regular Tuesday route of Alexandria to Portsmouth to Laredo to Alexandria. We heard last week that Portsmouth was saying “no more” and that is exactly what we observed. It was not on the route today.
Ø Today, Henry Lucero, Exec Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal Ops for ICE testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee today. He confirmed that Guatemala has suspended flights there because of COVID fears. He also said there were some bilateral agreements with some countries requiring testing before deportation but that he did not know which ones. To our knowledge and based on what we see and read, only Guatemala has required testing, and since it has not worked. They suspended. He did admit that they do not test every deportee, something obvious to us from the statistics on testing. They also still indicated only 2,000 tests for all detainees per month and that it is the rapid test which is notoriously erroneous. At least 8 countries have reported deportees that tested positive when they arrived.
Ø That said, tonight, Jeff Abbott reported that the Guatemalan Ministry of Health said 186 migrants deported have tested positive for COVID. And that is in a country that required the US to test.
NEW REPORTING FROM ICE This WEEK – TODAY THEY HAVE STARTED TO REPORT THOSE IN ISOLATION AND BEING MONITORED.
NB AS OF 9 PM TONIGHT THE NUMBERS HAVE NOT BEEN UPDATED. THESE ARE 5/31/2020.
Ø 1,461 detainees have tested positive for COVID, up 5 today. 2,781 have been tested, no change today. 53% of those tested have been positive for COVID.
Ø New – 754 detainees are in isolation or are being monitored. That is 2.9% of detainees as of last Wednesday (25,911).
Here are the flights for today. The number behind the leg indicates a single individual planes path.
- PHOENIX to SAN DIEGO – 1
- SAN DIEGO to MEXICO CITY – 1
- MEXICO CITY to PHOENIX– 1
- PHOENIX to LAS VEGAS -1
-LAS VEGAS to EL PASO - 1
- BROWNSVILLE to TOLEDO – 2
- TOLEDO RICHMOND – 2
- RICHMOND to ALEXANDRIA -2
- ALEXANDRIA to BROWNSVILLE – 2
- ALEXANDRIA to NEWARK – 3
- NEWARK to LAREDO – 3
- LAREDO to ALEXANDRIA – 3
- ALEXANDRIA to DOMINICAN – 4
- DOMINICAN to ALEXANDRIA – 4
- SAN ANTONIO to HARRISBURG – 5
- HARRISBURG to BROWNSVILLE – 5
- BROWNSVILLE to SAN ANTONIO – 5
- SAN ANTONIO to PHOENIX - 6
- PHOENIX to RICHMOND – 6
- RICHMOND to SAN ANTONIO – 6
- BROWNSVILLE to MEXICO CITY – 7
- MEXICO CITY to BROWNSVILLE – 7
- PHOENIX to YAKIMA – 8
- YAKIMA to LAS VEGAS – 8
- LAS VEGAS to EL PASO – 8
- EL PASO to PHOENIX – 8
- PHOENIX to DENVER – 9
- DENVER to SO CAL - 9
-SO CAL to SAN DIEGO - 9
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.