DHS Blew $464 Million on 'Urgent' Deportation Jets — Then Let Most of Them Sit Parked
A no-bid contract tied to former Secretary Kristi Noem bought 10 used aircraft, including three luxury jets, for deportation flights. Months later, seven of the planes are grounded in Louisiana because DHS doesn't have crews to fly them.
The Department of Homeland Security spent $464 million last fall on a no-bid deal for 10 used airplanes it said were urgently needed for deportation flights. Nearly a year later, most of that fleet has barely left the ground.
The purchase — from a firm based in Northern Virginia with ties to former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem — included seven aging Boeing 737 passenger jets and three luxury business jets, according to reporting from The Philadelphia Inquirer. DHS justified skipping a competitive bidding process by citing the urgency of the deportation mission. But seven of the 737s have instead sat parked for months at an airport in Lake Charles, Louisiana — because the agency doesn't have enough trained staff to fly them.
Idle jets, angry senators
Rather than running deportation flights, at least two of the aircraft were instead offered up for use by other federal agencies, including one reportedly floated for FBI Director Kash Patel's use, according to Yahoo News. Democrats on the Senate Appropriations Committee are now reviewing what they're calling a wasteful use of taxpayer money, and the episode has spilled into public finger-pointing inside the administration.
SEVEN JETS. MONTHS PARKED. NO CREW TO FLY THEM.
Noem, who has since left DHS, and Sen. Markwayne Mullin have traded blame over the deal, with each pointing to the other over who signed off on the purchase and its costly aftermath, according to The New Republic.
The contract's no-bid structure has drawn particular scrutiny given the size of the purchase and the seller's reported ties to Noem. Watchdogs say the episode fits a broader pattern of questions about DHS's rapid, high-dollar procurement decisions made in the name of ramping up deportation capacity under the Trump administration's immigration enforcement push.
What's next
DHS has not publicly detailed a timeline for staffing the grounded jets or explained why the agency proceeded with an urgent no-bid purchase it wasn't prepared to operate. Senate appropriators are expected to press the department for answers on the contract and its oversight in upcoming hearings.