Posts
5/4/20
DEATH FLIGHTS – 4 May 2020
22 FLIGHTS - 5 DEPORTATION FLIGHTS
Ø Today was a breathtakingly busy day. We can only imagine how much COVID was seeded and spread by ICE Air today given the number of flights and geographies covered. To put today into perspective, today there were 5 deportation flights and all of last week there were 6. Today there were 22 flights, last week there were 59 for the full week. The next few days will be interesting.
Ø 7 ICE Air planes were in the air today and there were 5 deportation flights, the most in one day in about month. Deportations to Honduras (2), Ecuador, and Columbia, and Guatemala.
5/4/20
As we expected, ICE is moving prisoners this morning from Krome and Broward, in Florida, ruled life-threatening by a court, to another prison in Georgia, where the courts may not be watching. ICE Air, also known as Swift Air. They fly sports teams around, and carry the super-rich to ski resorts when not committing crimes against humanity.
5/3/20
To say that these are strange times is too weak a description, but there is little point in struggling for stronger terms; we are all living in it. I think we all owe ourselves some sympathy for our personal struggles. Some of us have had the virus brush closer to us than others, and some very close indeed. We are fragile creatures, and these tribulations remind us, or teach us, that.
5/1/20
DEATH FLIGHTS – 1 May 2020
6 FLIGHTS
Ø These are not just airplanes and statistics. They are people. They are families of loving men, women and children. It is easy, even for those of us that have witnessed the boarding of these flying boxcars of our generation and who have literally mourned their passing into the clouds to lose sight of that. To count the planes, the routes, to record the departure and destination locations.
- One of my most vivid memories of witnessing the boarding of a deportation flight in Brownsville was of my good friend and 82 year-old warrior Fran Schindler who was witnessing with me. As each person struggled up the steps in their shackles and with their heads bowed low she counted each one. And the longer she counted the more the tears flowed and soon she was trembling pressed against the chain fence. I told her she could take a break – that is was ok. She would not. You see, she was not counting for a tally. She told me she was counting so that she could remember each individual and so that they were accounted for in her mind as a person who was loved. She counted every one of the 92 that were sent away to danger that day. Some of Fran went with every one of them. That is why we witness.
Ø Today was a slow day for ICE Air. A deportation flight to El Salvador and more shuffling around the US. Since ICE discloses nothing we can only question why. Are they trying to organize their new testing protocol which is to test 2,000 per month; still only 7% of the detainee population? Positioning for a big day Monday? Are more countries beyond Guatemala pushing back to require testing of all those of flights? We don’t know, but that’s why we witness.
Ø COVID continues to spread in detention centers, and therefore to deportation countries. As of today, 522 have tested positive, up 32 from yesterday. The number tested increased to by 43 to 1,073. So, of those tested, 49% have been positive. It does appear that only symptomatic people are being tested, with the exception perhaps of those deported yesterday to Guatemala since they would only accept those tested and negative.
Ø Difficulties, danger and challenges do not stop when they land. Many will face even more difficult times. The Kino Border Initiatives prepares some simple and brief material that they try to get to detainees to let them know what they might experience if deported based on the deportation country. Note El Salvador has 45 days of confinement upon return. We share it now with you for a more complete picture.
HONDURAS
1) If people arrive in San Pedro Sula:
- Adults arrive at the Returned Migrants Service Center. There they do a medical check-up to see if they have symptoms, and if they do not have symptoms, they issue them a permit to travel for a day, to get home, and they have 3 options: a) Take them to the SPS-enabled shelter (a former warehouse ), there they can be quarantined; b) they can get a taxi at the airport (they say some taxis are coming); c) A bus will drop you off at the center of San Pedro. But they no longer offer the three bus routes that were a few days ago. Some organizations are organizing to get help.
- Families and unaccompanied minors arrive at the Centro Belén - it has always been like this. There the procedure is similar, they do a medical checkup to see if they have symptoms, from what they have said, so far no one has come with symptoms. The Center has a shelter, and when they cannot leave immediately or if they are unaccompanied minors, while they wait for them to go look for them, they stay there.
- It seems that there are already UNHCR officers at CARM and in Bethlehem, to deal with cases officials identify with protection needs.
4/30/20
DEATH FLIGHTS – 30 APRIL 2020 (please share for transparency)
11 FLIGHTS
Ø Today there was one deportation flight to Guatemala with 2 cities involved (described below), and 2 planes each seeding and spreading COVID across the detention centers with 4 flight legs each. The churn between detention centers continues to shock us. No passenger numbers (or flights for that matter) are disclosed by ICE but there is no reason to flit around the country like this unless they are transporting people.
Ø Today there was a flight to Guatemala, although their government has said it did not mean the suspension has been lifted. Guatemala suspended deportation flights for the 3rd time during the pandemic a little over a week ago after 103 detainees returned had COVID.
- This flight was classified as a “humanitarian” flight and included 92 people; 3 unaccompanied minors, 20 in family units and 69 men.
- Each passenger was tested for COVID and tested negative and they carried their medical papers with them. So, 92 tests, which might help explain the large jump in disclosed tests last night.
4/29/20
We are witnesses to something that is too large for us to wrap our minds around. We are watching something sweep away the world we once knew. And what follows is not coming into focus. But more and more, it seems that the changes will be profound.
Still, there are many of us who are reluctant to acknowledge the sea change taking place. We pretend that the world we will live out the rest of our days in is still the one we lived in up until a couple of months ago. This is a human thing to do; the changes are dizzying, and we have not found our feet.
4/28/20
DEATH FLIGHTS – 28 APRIL 2020 (please share for transparency)
20 FLIGHTS
Ø Today we saw an amazing amount of churning of flights within the US and presumably detainees. Since ICE does not disclose the number of prisoners on their flights we are left to our educated guesses. When we see 3 and 4 legs of flights by the same plane there really is no explanation other than they are moving people around.
- Today we saw 1 plane fly 5 legs, and 3 planes fly 4 legs all within the US.
- Even the deportation flight to El Salvador made 2 legs in the US.
4/27/20
DEATH FLIGHTS – 24 APRIL 2020 (please share for transparency)
ICE Air is starting to get a lot more Media and Congressional attention now. We have had a number of inquiries. Keep sharing!
12 FLIGHTS 25 Ap – 27 April
ICE Air rarely flies on the weekend, but sometimes there are plane repositioning, returns and occasionally detainee flights. That was the case Saturday – Monday this week. Monday was actually a light day for flights. Because ICE discloses nothing about these flights, we are left to our own hypotheses. Perhaps Friday was such a large day they took a day of rest. Perhaps they are facing some pressure to suspend flights until they start testing. Or, maybe they are just positioning for a big day to come. We will witness.
4/24/20
DEATH FLIGHTS – 24 APRIL 2020
23 – Let that sink in 23 FLIGHTS TODAY
Ø ICE Air was incredibly mobile today. It makes us gasp at the thought of how much COVID was seeded and spread today alone. And it makes us wonder if ICE wanted to get as many deportations done before testing protocols are put in place (see last item below), or others suspend flights.
4/23/20
DEATH FLIGHTS – 23 APRIL 2020
14 FLIGHTS TODAY
Ø Today, in the midst of the greatest pandemic of our lifetimes, we sent 129 people, including 49 children, back to Haiti, the poorest country in this hemisphere and possibly one that is the most ill prepared to care for people with COVID. It is estimated Haiti only has 60 ventilators of which 20 may work for a population of 11 million people and only 124 ICU beds. Not long ago we sent 3 people back with COVID that represented 8% of Haiti’s cases at the time.
Ø Just this week, 164 humanitarian groups signed a letter pleading to stop deportations to Haiti because of the significant health risk. ICE was deaf to these pleas and continued to deport hate.
4/22/20
DEATH FLIGHTS – 22 APRIL 2020 (please share for transparency)
Ø Our deportation of COVID and hate continued today with the 8 flights as listed below. Fewer than yesterday’s 17, but still a great deal of shuffling around the US. Guatemala flights are still suspended.
Ø ICE detainees dropped again this week by about 1,500 to 30,737. The detainee population is dropping because people continue to be deported and those fleeing danger and violence are being flash returned under the CDC Order with zero opportunity to request asylum, or, effectively request any protected status. So far, over 11,000 people have been expelled, most by land as we understand, under the Order, including an estimated 400 unaccompanied children.
Ø So, deportation by air is only part of the story. One state in Mexico, Tampaulipus, reports 100 deportations per day by land. In Reynosa, on the border across from McAllen, TX, it was recently reported that 16 migrants with COVID were repatriated or deported (6 from Honduras; 3 from Cuba; 1 from Guatemala; 1 from Cameroon and 1 unknown).
4/5/20
A REPORT ABOUT THE MATAMOROS ENCAMPMENT
As far as we know there have been no confirmed cases of COVID.
People are not mingling as closely as before the pandemic, especially in large groups. It seems as though there is much more awareness of social distancing, but as those of us who have spent time in the camp, that is very difficult do with the density of the camp and at the natural interdependence of residents in the camp.
4/1/20
As Guatemala once again ponders over its craven acceptance of deportation flights, which inevitably spread Coronavirus to their already ravaged country, and Honduras and Salvador take their human cargo, mindless of the contagion, we watch, I from an apartment in New York City, others from Texas and Ohio, eyes glued to flight manifests every early morning.
3/28/20
I am perched on the eighth floor of a building in Brooklyn in an apartment with Melissa. We have not left for several days. We have a terrace, so we can go out and feel the sun and wind, and watch the reduced traffic, automobile and pedestrian, below. When watching together, we sigh and scold to each other about those that do not observe social distancing. That’s not six feet, one of us remarks to the other. We stand together, touching.
3/27/20
Artist Iviva Olenick is working on a series called "States of Emergenc(y)e," a "textile arts and performance series advocating for opening borders and extending compassion and care to immigrants and refugees."
