DHS Signs deal to buy Boeing 737’s for deportation fleet

This is one of those stories that if you didn't see it for yourself, printed in a newspaper, you wouldn't believe it. The Department of Homeland Security is buying some airplanes. 

According to Seattletimes.com,
‘The Department of Homeland Security recently signed a contract worth nearly $140 million to purchase six Boeing 737 planes for deportations – a move that will allow the agency to operate its own fleet after receiving a massive funding increase from Congress.’ 

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a history of contracting charter planes for their deportation efforts. Things are about to change because DHS and ICE are going to be receiving a large cash infusion. 

It's just more efficient this way. 

In a statement responding to an inquiry by The Washington Post Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokeswoman said that buying 6 Boeing 737’s at a cost of approximately $140 million would actually save money.  

It was not that long ago that Kristi Noem said that she wanted ICE to have their own fleet of planes for their own use, and deportation flights and inquiries were made to buy 10 surplus 737 from Spirit Airlines. The only problem with buying those planes was that Spirit Airlines did not own them and at the time, the planes also did not have engines. So, the purchase was never made. 

As of august 1, 2025 it was revealed in a legal filing that The Department of Homeland Security has a contract worth $1 billion with Salus Worldwide Solutions to support voluntary “self-deportation”. 

Will they really save money? 

Keep in mind that buying the planes is just the beginning of the expenses because you also need to have flight crews and maintenance crews to keep those planes in the air safely. 

The ultimate question, of course, is this the way we should be spending taxpayers' money? I don't have an answer. But it will be interesting to see how things develop over the next several months.