DHS says its new deportation planes are almost ready for takeoff. Critics doubt the plan will work

(CNN) — A long-abandoned proposal at the Department of Homeland Security – one so ambitious the agency had never gone through with it before – was revived under the leadership of then-Secretary Kristi Noem.

Officials spent tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to buy the department its own fleet of aircraft and started laying the groundwork for shifting away from relying on charter airline companies for deportation flights, as it had for decades. Ultimately, they planned to start their own mini airline to help execute President Donald Trump’s aim to deport 1 million undocumented immigrants a year.

Now DHS tells CNN exclusively it plans to start using the planes for deportation flights soon – using contractors to operate the planes – after new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin reevaluated the plan. Mullin, who replaced Noem in March, had undertaken an agency-wide review of contracts signed during her tenure.

“We anticipate we will be able to integrate these planes into our deportation efforts in the coming weeks,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.

Under Noem, DHS officials argued the move would save taxpayers $280 million, in part by allowing the department to fly more efficient routes, though they didn’t give a timeframe for those savings.

But some current and former DHS officials, as well as aviation industry sources, question whether the unprecedented endeavor will be viable over the long-term and deliver the promised savings. Some critics point to industry data that suggests the department may have paid more than market value for at least some of the planes.

“It’s hard to see this as anything but a waste of public money,” an aviation industry executive told CNN.

DHS purchased 10 planes between January and March of this year, records show. The fleet has largely sat idle since then – in some cases, for months – at a maintenance facility in Louisiana, according to a source with knowledge of the matter and publicly available flight tracking data.

While some of the aircraft were used for evacuation flights in the early days of the Iran war, none have been used for deportations.

William Walters, the CEO of Daedalus Aviation, the company that sold the aircraft to DHS, told CNN they were sold at cost plus overhead, including the cost of retrofitting the passenger planes for immigration purposes.

Walters and DHS declined to provide a breakdown of the costs of the planes.

The DHS spokesperson said the planes will provide “vital support” to immigration enforcement but that “any decisions related to the purchase of these planes were made prior to the change in DHS leadership.”

The department added that while Mullin and his team worked with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to “assess the operation plan for utilizing these aircraft,” the planes have been “undergoing maintenance and safety checks as well as any necessary make-ready modifications to meet the need of the deportation mission.”

“Secretary Mullin is 100% focused on ensuring the needs of our Department are met while being the best possible steward of taxpayer dollars,” DHS said in another statement to CNN.

Building the fleet

From the beginning of this endeavor, several aviation sources said they thought the plan was “crazy” and said it would “never work.” Some of the sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, while others offering an industry perspective wanted to avoid potential fallout from the White House.

“There’s an old saying in aviation: The fastest way to become a millionaire is to be a billionaire who tries to start an airline,” one industry veteran told CNN, citing a joke about the risks and high startup costs.

Last December, as DHS was assessing what it would take to carry out its plan, the agency issued a public request seeking a wide range of information, including “perspectives and planning considerations” for operating aircraft from charter airline companies –— essentially, asking what is required to operate a fleet for a mission like deportations.

The request for information had a deadline of early January.

One aviation industry insider familiar with DHS’ request for information wondered whether the agency had fully thought through its plan, noting it was purchasing aircraft around the same time it was still seeking industry input.

“They bought the aircraft before they figured out how to operate them and/or what the cost to operate them would be,” the insider said.

Another source, a former ICE official, described the entire effort as akin to “building the plane while they’re flying it.”

The DHS fleet consists of eight Boeing 737s – a workhorse of US domestic travel and among the most widely used commercial planes in the world – and two Gulfstream jets, according to records reviewed by CNN. All were purchased from Daedalus, a private aircraft company and a relative newcomer to the immigration business.

Former ICE officials said the agency considered the idea of buying planes in the past but never moved forward because of the complications that come with operating a fleet and the costs that would have to be baked into the federal budget.

“What’s very difficult is that once you own the aircraft, you have to maintain them, fueling, staffing them with pilots and flight crews and all of that comes at a cost,” the former ICE official told CNN. “You may be able to buy the planes now, but how are you funding the staffing and all the wraparound support and services that are required long-term?”

While DHS says it plans for contractors to fly its fleet, at least initially, aviation industry veterans say several major charter operators that fly deportation flights would need to get regulatory authorization to fly the 737s purchased by the department, which can take several months. They’d also likely need to hire and train pilots to fly that model, and that comes at a cost.

The source with knowledge of the matter said the current contracting model for chartered deportation flights is a major cost driver – with one company acting as a broker and then subcontracting flights to multiple charter airlines. When the profit and overhead for each layer are factored in, “that gets super expensive,” the source said

According to the most recent data, a charter flight costs an average of almost $7,000 per flight hour to nearly $27,000, according to ICE. That includes the aircraft and fuel as well as the flight crew, security personnel, an onboard medical professional and other fees.

Millions allotted for planes

In January, the Office of Management and Budget increased DHS funding for “transportation and removal” by $50 million to $202 million, adding a footnote that a portion of those funds were “available for obligation solely for the purchase of the five Boeing 737-700 aircraft which ICE has previously briefed to OMB.”

By March, the budget for that line had increased to $464.5 million, with an updated footnote indicating the new funds would be used in part to purchase eight Boeing 737s and two Gulfstream G-650 jets.

The purchases – including a $70 million luxury 737 jet complete with a bed, kitchen and bar – raised eyebrows among industry experts and lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse grilled Noem during a hearing earlier this year, asking her to respond to critics who said the luxury jet’s purchase was an abuse of federal funds.

She said the department used it for “command and control” flights and reiterated that the purchase of planes for deportations and official travel would save taxpayers money.

DHS reportedly agreed to pay $140 million to buy the initial tranche of planes. The source with knowledge of the matter said the department bought five 737s at this stage.

Some industry experts suggest the department may have paid above market value, noting that would work out to an average of $28 million each.

One independent market analysis from ch-aviation shows that the seven 737s that DHS purchased, not including the luxury jet, have a combined value of $84 million – or roughly $12 million each on average. Another analysis provided to CNN valuated them at an average of $21 million each.

The assessments are based on industry figures for each plane’s tail number and standard assumptions about condition and maintenance. Ch-aviation also noted its estimate doesn’t reflect a review of maintenance records or a physical inspection of the aircraft.

DHS did not respond to questions about the market analyses.

While the agency’s own fleet hasn’t been used for deportations yet, there has been an increase in those flights with the agency using charter flights – and in the number of destination countries, according to Human Rights First, a nonprofit that tracks that information.

The group found there were 245 removal flights last month – a monthly record since it began tracking them in 2020.

CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez and Aaron Cooper contributed to this reporting.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.