Deportation flights hit record highs but become harder to track: Report

Immigration advocates say airlines are making it harder to track U.S. deportation flights

saying dummy call signs and blocked tail numbers are keeping the public from seeing where these

planes are going. The report comes as the number of deportation flights reaches record highs under

President Trump. Immigration advocacy groups told the Associated Press they previously followed

deportation flights on public tracking websites, but now many show up as not available, forcing

volunteers to rely on airport cameras, open source data and information sharing to keep track

Tom Cartwright, who has tracked ICE flights since 2020, recorded more than 1,200 deportation flights

in July alone, a record month. Most are operated by three airlines, Global X, Eastern Air Express

and Avelo Airlines. Since the start of Trump's second term, Cartwright reported 5,962 flights

a 41 increase from the same period last year These flights either take immigrants to other U airports or directly to Central America Mexico or in a few cases Guantanamo Bay

That's according to Cartwright's tracking. To help with the workload, Cartwright's group partnered

with Human Rights First, which is now running the Ice Flight Monitor project. Seattle's Boeing

Field Airport is one of the few places the public can see these flights. County cameras and live

streams allow volunteers to count passengers and monitor the operations. Local groups say they've

tracked more than 60 flights in Washington this year, moving thousands of immigrants to border

states or out of the country. While these advocacy groups say the planes are becoming harder to follow

and track, raising transparency concerns, airlines are legally permitted to limit flight data

available for the public, according to the FAA