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The number of ICE flights is skyrocketing – but the planes are harder to track

As President Donald Trump moves to deport as many as 1 million immigrants a year from the US, putting more detainees on more airplanes, and with more frequency, has become a key feature of carrying out that endeavor.

According to data from immigrant advocacy group Witness at the Border, Richmond is one ofabout 70 domestic hubs that the Trump administration has used as stoppage points for ICE flights that shuttle detainees in its custody between detention centers around the country, with the goal of eventually deporting them. The move to block tail numbers became possible after the Federal Aviation Administration last year broadened its rules to allow companies the ability to request their information be removed by filling out a form online. These trips move detainees between detention facilities, as more ICE arrests means those in custody are being shuffled between sites around the country in a complex, coordinated scramble to find available beds.

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