Under the radar: How charter airlines fly ICE deportees at MSP
A hidden new line of business is growing for charter airlines operating at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport — the ICE “shuffle” flight.
Here’s how it works: Department of Homeland Security vans shuttle ICE arrestees to the southern end of the airport. Authorities lay out shackles on the tarmac. People are unloaded and put in the restraints. Then the detainees board a charter flight that will shuffle them to an undisclosed staging area for deportation from the U.S.
Many of these flights don’t appear on public air traffic-tracking apps, and most of the charter airlines offering this type of service are little-known. Passenger figures are not reported to airport authorities.
The trips could mostly escape public attention if not for people like Nick Benson, an activist and professional airplane tracker with a 6-foot antenna attached to his roof in Burnsville.
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Private planes carry most
So far this year, four airlines — Key Lime Air, Global Crossings, Eastern Airlines and Avelo Airlines — have conducted ICE flights at MSP, according to data from Human Rights First, which maintains an “ICE Flight Monitor” that relies on open-source flight trackers.
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Between October and November, Key Lime ran 13 ICE flights out of MSP, according to Human Rights First’s data. Miami-based Global Crossing Airlines, or GlobalX, operated four while Eastern Airlines, based in Kansas City, Mo., flew seven during that time. Avelo, based in Houston, flew only one MSP flight this year, on Aug. 16.
https://www.startribune.com/under-the-radar-how-charter-airlines-fly-ice-deportees-at-msp/601540968
Picture at link shows a handcuffed person, no coat with below zero temps, walking up stairs to a plane on the tarmac.
One really big issue is that with the quick transport to another state prevents attorneys from helping them.
FYI, The Minnesota Star Tribune has a paywall. They allow one article to be viewed, however.