Are Trump administration deportation flights using planes from Joint Base Lewis-McChord?
Cargo planes from Joint Base Lewis-McChord are being used in the Trump administration’s ramped-up deportation of immigrants in the country illegally, The News Tribune has learned.
Military public affairs would not confirm the involvement of planes from the 62nd Airlift Wing, but photos provided by Davis-Mothan Air Force Base show airmen and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency personnel loading immigrants onto McChord-based C-17 planes at Tucson International Airport on Thursday.
“Due to security reasons we cannot identify the crews who are involved, which missions nor where the planes are based,” said U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) spokesperson Nate Allen.
Allen said three C-17 flights took deportees to Guatemala. The first two planes headed to Colombia were turned around mid-flight when that country refused to accepted the deportees. On Tuesday, Colombia agreed to take immigrant flights.
As of noon Tuesday, one flight was in the air, but Allen could not confirm the destination until the mission was over, he said.
USTRANSCOM was told to prepare for 80 passengers per flight, he said. The average per hour cost to operate a C-17 is $28,500, Allen said. A round trip flight from Tucson to Guatemala City takes about 12 hours. That would mean each trip costs approximately $342,000 or $4,275 per deportee.
Photos show the vast interiors of the C-17 lined with seated passengers overseen by masked government officers and armed military personnel. The immigrants are handcuffed and wear chains around their waists.
USTRANSCOM is tasked with providing the planes and personnel to fly them. It gets its orders from U.S. Northern Command, Allen said. The U.S. State Department oversees diplomatic permissions while U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are tasked with arrests.
“It’s definitely not a unilateral effort,” Allen said. “There’s lots of moving pieces that are making this happen.”
President Donald Trump is working to fulfill his campaign promise of carrying out the biggest mass deportation in U.S. history.
This story was originally published January 28, 2025 at 1:12 PM.
