Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem allegedly authorized the purchase of 10 Spirit Airlines planes for deportation operations — only to later discover that the budget airline didn’t actually own the planes, and that none of them came equipped with engines, according to a new Wall Street Journal report published Friday.
The revelation comes amid reported internal tensions within President Donald Trump’s administration over how to accelerate the deportation of undocumented immigrants. Noem, alongside Department of Homeland Security adviser Corey Lewandowski, had reportedly spearheaded the plan to acquire 10 Boeing 737 jets from Spirit Airlines for use in deportation flights.
The goal, sources told the Journal, was to create a fleet capable of transporting immigrants detained in mass raids conducted by masked agents under Trump’s directive. However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials reportedly warned Noem and Lewandowski that buying the planes outright would be far more costly than expanding existing flight contracts.
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