🔗 Share this article

The head of the United States Department of Homeland Security reportedly approved the purchase of Spirit Airline jets before learning that the airline did not truly possess the aircraft – and that the planes lacked engines.

This strange anecdote was detailed in a investigation published on the end of the week, which described how the secretary and a ex- political strategist had recently attempted to buy ten Boeing 737 planes from Spirit Airlines. Sources with knowledge told the paper that the pair planned to use the planes to increase deportation flights – and for personal travel.

Those sources also stated that ICE officials had cautioned them that buying planes would be significantly costlier than simply increasing existing flight contracts.

ICE facing intense criticism after footage apparently shows unresponsive individual holding infant during arrest.

Complicating matters further, Spirit, which filed for bankruptcy proceedings for the second time in the summer, did not possess the jets and their engines would have had to be bought independently. The proposal has since been halted, according to the report.

In the interim, Democratic lawmakers on the House appropriations committee said in the autumn that during this fall's historically lengthy government shutdown, the Department of Homeland Security had already acquired two Gulfstream aircraft for $200m.

“It has come to our attention that, in the middle of a federal shutdown, the United States Coast Guard signed a single-source contract with Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation to procure two new G700 luxury aircraft to support travel for the secretary and the deputy, at a expense to the public of $200 million,” Democratic lawmakers wrote in a letter to the DHS.

A DHS spokesperson told the Journal that some details in the report about the plane purchases were inaccurate but declined to provide further details.

The legislature had previously approved the termed “major immigration bill” in the summer, which dedicates roughly $170bn for immigration and border security operations, a sum that makes Immigration and Customs Enforcement the most heavily funded federal agency in the federal government.

In the autumn, it was reported that the administration was moving individuals held as part of its removal program in ways that breached their constitutionally protected rights, often by air.

Leaked data examined from private airline GlobalX detailed the journeys of tens of thousands of immigrants who have been shuttled around the country before deportation.