Which Air Carriers Are Poised to Cash In From Trump’s Mass Deportations?

As the Trump administration is ramping up detentions and deportations in an effort to reach its goal of removing 1 million immigrants by the end of this year, new air carriers have signed contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to carry out deportation flights. The transportation of immigrants to ICE detention centers and countries that have agreed to accept immigrants is a billion-dollar business.

Deportation flights and the air carriers carrying out those flights have been around for decades. ICE’s current prime air charter contractor is CSI Aviation, which in turn subcontracts the flights to smaller carriers. It’s a lucrative business, according to industry executives: The combination of consistent work, with carriers guaranteed payment for a minimum level of monthly flying and penalties for canceled flights, is appealing to air carriers.

According to data from Witness at the Border, a migrant advocacy group, there have been more than 350 deportation flights since the start of 2025. Initially the Trump administration used military aircraft to carry out the flights, but after reporting showed the military flights were expensive and inefficient, they were stopped in early March.

The flights are departing from Mesa, Arizona; San Antonio, Texas; Alexandria, Louisiana; Harlingen, Texas; and Miami. Countries that have accepted migrants include Guatemala, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, India, Mexico, Libya, Panama and Venezuela. Immigrants have also been sent to the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba and the Cecot mega-prison in El Salvador.

Prime Contractor

ICE’s prime contractor is the New Mexico-based CSI Aviation. The company describes itself as a “seasoned federal contractor” on its website, but does not mention ICE services.

CSI has signed contracts worth more than $650 million with ICE in the past three years. Included in that total is a no-bid contract awarded to CSI for deportation flights, worth up to $219 million. The contract began on March 1, runs until August and has the possibility to be extended until February 2026. The Project on Government Oversight, a government watchdog, reported that the contract was modified in order to increase the number of deportation flights. The modification fell on the same day that President Donald Trump signed an executive order invoking the Alien Enemies Act to justify the detention and removal of individuals associated with the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua.

In 2024, under the Biden administration, CSI was awarded a $3.6 billion contract for deportation flights — but that contract has been halted as it was challenged in court by Classic Air Charter, a competing company. Classic Air Charter’s previous contract ran from 2017 to 2023 and was worth nearly $885 million.

The Subcontractors

CSI Aviation subcontracts the deportation flights to several companies. Tom Cartwright, an immigration activist and watchdog, notes in his March 2025 report that historically the vast majority of the flights were operated by World Atlantic and iAero, but now by GlobalX. Cartwright notes that “Eastern Air, OMNI, and Kaiser operate flights rarely and Gryphon small jets are only used for long distance flights occasionally to Africa, the Pacific and Europe.”

• One of the largest subcontractors is the Miami based GlobalX, part of Global Crossing Airlines Group, which also serves sports teams and tours for Lady Gaga and Bad Bunny. In 2024, GlobalX operated nearly 80 percent of ICE’s 1,564 removal flights. In September 2023, GlobalX signed an emergency five-year contract to carry out deportation flights. The company expects $65 million in annual revenue from this contract. GlobalX also carried out the flights that deported 238 people to El Salvador.
• Budget carrier Avelo Airlines recently signed a contract with ICE to fly three planes for deportations from Mesa, Arizona, after the company was seeking ways to become more profitable. The Wall Street Journal reported that Chief Executive Officer Andrew Levy said to his employees: “I realize some may view the decision to fly for [Homeland Security] as controversial,” but after extensive deliberations “we concluded this new opportunity was too valuable not to pursue, as it will help us stabilize our finances and allow us to continue our journey.” It’s so far unknown how much the contracts will add to Avelo’s revenue. Protests against the airline’s decision have occurred in California and Connecticut.
• In September 2020, Aircraft Transport Services, Inc., a Florida-based carrier signed a five-year contract worth $62.3 million to carry out “special high risk charter flights” for ICE.
• Air Transport Services Group provides cargo aircraft for Amazon, UPS and DHL. Its subsidiary, Omni Air International, has provided “special high-risk charter” deportation flights.
• The private prison company GEO Group announced in March 2024 that its subsidiary GEO Transport, Inc. was awarded a five-year contract with CSI Aviation to carry out deportation flights. The contract is expected to generate about $25 million in annualized revenues for GEO.
• Previously, the majority of deportation flights were executed by iAero Airways and its predecessor, Swift Air, but the company filed for bankruptcy in 2023. The Wall Street Journal reported that bankruptcy files showed iAero Airways operated nearly 60 deportation flights per month, “at one point earning about $4 million a week.” iAero Airways also flew for various teams in the NHL, NBA and MLS.
• World Atlantic Airlines, also known as Caribbean Sun Airlines, operated flights if iAero could not. It operated an increased number of flights after iAreo’s bankruptcy.

Follow the Money:

• The chief executive officer of CSI Aviation, Allen Weh, and his wife, Rebecca, are longtime Republican donors. In 2024, Allen Weh contributed $150,100 to the Republican National Committee. Rebecca Weh contributed $165,200. Allen Weh ran for Senate in New Mexico in 2014, but lost to Tom Udall (D) by 10 percentage points. He radised more than $3.6 million. The Wehs contributed a combined $16,500 to Trump. CSI Aviation hosted a Trump campaign rally in Albuquerque, N.M., in October. Individuals at the company contributed $330,300 to the Republican National Committee, $50,000 to the conservative Our Values PAC II and $16,626 to Trump’s campaign.
• The president of Classic Air Charter, Gwen Carson, made several donations to Trump PACs and fundraising committees. Daniel Carson, the company’s CEO, contributed $4,164 to GOP Rep. Mike Haridopolos’ re-election campaign in Florida.
• GlobalX Air’s stock has risen 39 percent since Trump took office. GlobalX’s executive chairman, Chris Jamroz, contributed $10,000 to the Republican Party of Wisconsin in 2022. Jamroz also contributed $8,700 to Sen. Ron Johnson’s (R-Wis.) campaign in 2022.
• Few of the companies involved in deportation flights engage in federal lobbying. One of the notable exceptions has been the company behind iAero Airways: iAero Group spent $420,000 on federal lobbying in 2020, $290,000 in 2021, $250,000 in 2022 and $160,000 in 2023, the year it went bankrupt. The company employed the services of the lobbying firms Ballad Partners, the previous firm of Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Miller Strategies, a lobby firm with strong ties to the Trump administration. The CEOs of both companies, Jeff Miller and Brian Ballard, lobbied for the company.
• Tomas Romero, the CEO of World Atlantic Airlines, has been a longtime contributor to the Florida Democratic Party, but also made a $1,000 contribution to GOP Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart’s race in Florida in 2019. He contributed $5,400 to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2015.
• Aircraft Transport Services President John Scotto contributed $1,041 to Trump’s Save America joint fundraising committee.
• Air Transport Services Group has its own political action committee, which contributed $30,000 to Republican federal candidates.
• OpenSecrets previously reported that GEO Group is also expanding its private prison operations. The company spent $1.38 million on lobbying the federal government in 2024, with as main focus the appropriations bill funding the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the budget for ICE. The company donated $500,000 to the 2025 inaugural committee and contributed a total of $3.7 million to candidates, outside spending groups and other political committees during the 2024 elections.

Why Does It Matter?

• Cartwright said the number of flights in 2025 is only slightly higher than in 2024: According to his analysis, there were 134 deportation flights in March, a minimal increase over March 2024. The Department of Homeland Security told Newsweek in early April that 100,000 people had been deported since Inauguration Day. But as the number of people who are being deported on these flights are normally around 125, and there have been 369 deportation flights from January to March 2025, the total number of immigrants deported should be nearly 50,000. Cartwright said the number reported to Newsweek most probably includes arrests. The latest update from NBC shows more than 47,000 immigrants are being held in detention facilities. Without a significant increase in deportation flights, the total number for this year would be less than 200,000, meaning it is unlikely the government will reach its goal of deporting 1 million people this year.
• The number of domestic flights transporting immigrants has increased 25 percent from late January to the end of March compared with the same period in 2024, according to Bloomberg. The Trump administration differs from its predecessors as it moves more immigrants to the South and Southwest, where there are less barriers for deportation. That is a costly process: Bloomberg used data disclosed by a former ICE director to estimate that the flights have cost taxpayers 29 percent more, almost $31 million total.
• On May 1, a Trump-appointed federal judge in Texas ruled that the president’s use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations is illegal, rejecting the idea that the United States has been invaded by Venezuelan gang members. The wartime act would make it legal to deport migrants without a hearing. The ruling is only applicable to south Texas.
• In 2021, the Biden administration awarded GEO Group a no bid contract worth $15.8 million to deport thousands of Haitians for four weeks. Each two-week period GEO would provide 44 flights priced at nearly $7.9 million. GEO deported thousands of Haitians, an action condemned by Human Rights Watch.

• ProPublica revealed in an investigation that flight attendants for GlobalX thought they were going to fly sports teams and elites, but found themselves staffing ICE deportation flights. “They never taught us anything regarding the immigration flights,” one employee told ProPublica. “They didn’t tell us these people were going to be shackled, wrists to f—ing ankles.” The company, which operated the recent flights to El Salvador, came under fire earlier this year when it was the subject of allegations of mistreating immigrants on its planes. During one of its deportation flights the air conditioning broke down before taking off, which resulted in people fainting. Eventually deportees had to open the emergency exit, while shackled, and call for help.
• Capital and Main reported that during the time that Swift Air and World Atlantic operated most ICE flights, “at least two dozen times their jets have malfunctioned, creating toxic fumes, fires, cabin depressurization and other problems.” During a 2017 deportation flight operated by World Atlantic, the air conditioning of the plane sprayed hydraulic fluid, resulting in several passengers requiring medical help.
• Classic Air Charter, which had a nearly $885 million contract with ICE from 2017 to 2023, also provided the CIA with deportation flights to its black sites in the early 2000s. Politico reported in 2017 that former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price used taxpayer-funded private jets from the company for leisure travel.