737-700 jets, acquired for hundreds of millions of dollars and meant to ramp up President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign, have barely left the ground at southwest Louisiana’s Lake Charles Regional Airport. Seven Boeing Co.
Now DHS, run by Trump ally and former Oklahoma senator Markwayne Mullin, is looking for alternatives to use the planes. It’s unclear though what DHS plans to do with the other three aircraft and the agency didn’t respond to questions about the fleet. Each of the planes has conducted fewer than five flights since April 2026, according to data from ADS-B Exchange, which tracks aircraft around the world.
In a September request for proposal, the department said it’s seeking to repurpose four of them for Congressional delegations and other VIPs.
The fate of the planes is emblematic of how DHS under Noem, and with the guidance of advisor Corey Lewandowski, pursued splashy projects that have since been criticized by Democrats and Republicans for wasteful spending. Some of the initiatives, including the advertising campaign that featured Noem riding a horse near Mount Rushmore, were canceled. Instead, the government has increased the pace of deportation flights using existing contractors.
A plan to convert warehouses into mega-immigration detention centers has largely been scrapped even after the government spent more than $1 billion acquiring the facilities. So far this year through the end of September it has carried out more than 2,400 deportation flights to 82 countries, according to Human Rights First, a group that tracks ICE deportation flight data. ICE has separately overseen more than 11,200 domestic flights in 39 states.
Because there was an extensive network of contractors to carry out deportation flights, during his tenure, a government-owned fleet was never considered or even discussed.
Aircraft availability has never significantly constrained ICE’s ability to conduct deportations, said John Sandweg, a former acting ICE director in the Obama administration who questioned the need for a government-owned fleet that would leave the agency responsible for maintenance and staffing. DHS has also set aside two other former Avelo jets for cabin retrofits and upgrades before they’re used for congressional delegations, according to the request for proposal. Sandweg said DHS has not previously overseen flights for Congressional delegations and the only agency executives who routinely travel via government planes are the Secretary and commandant of the Coast Guard.
