Deportation Flights

Real-time ICE immigration removal flight tracker

About This Tracker

Deportation Flights tracks U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportation flights using publicly available ADS-B transponder data from ADS-B Exchange. ICE Air Operations conducts immigration removal flights daily, transporting detainees to countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, and beyond.

This tracker displays live and historical flight paths for charter aircraft used in U.S. deportation operations. You can navigate day-by-day starting from January 20, 2025 to review where deportation flights have traveled — including common removal destinations such as Guatemala City, Tegucigalpa, San Salvador, Mexico City, Port-au-Prince, and others.

All flight data is sourced from publicly broadcast ADS-B radio signals. This is a public accountability resource — no private or classified information is used.

Busiest Airports & Destinations

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Top Departure Airports

Top Destination Airports

Top Destination Countries

Aggregated from inferred origins and destinations across the tracked period. Departure and destination airports are derived from each flight's ADS-B track; destination countries count international removal flights only.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is ICE Air Operations?

ICE Air Operations (IAO) is the division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement responsible for conducting deportation flights. It operates charter flights — primarily through contracted carriers — to remove immigration detainees to countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and beyond.

How does this deportation flight tracker work?

Aircraft broadcast their position via ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast) transponders. ADS-B Exchange collects these signals from a worldwide network of ground receivers. This tracker filters that data to show only aircraft used in ICE deportation operations, identified by their ICAO hex codes.

How often is the flight data updated?

Live flight positions update in real time as ADS-B signals are received. The tracker shows today's flights by default and you can step back day-by-day to historical data starting January 20, 2025.

What aircraft does ICE use for deportation flights?

ICE Air Operations primarily uses charter aircraft contracted from private airlines. Common aircraft types include Boeing 737s and Airbus A320-family jets configured for deportation operations.

Where do deportation flights go?

Common deportation flight destinations include Guatemala City (GUA), Tegucigalpa (TGU), San Salvador (SAL), Mexico City (MEX), Port-au-Prince (PAP), Santo Domingo (SDQ), Bogotá (BOG), and other cities across Latin America, the Caribbean, and occasionally Africa and Asia.

Is this flight tracking data accurate?

The data comes directly from ADS-B radio signals broadcast by the aircraft themselves — the same technology used by air traffic control. Coverage depends on ground receiver density and may have gaps over oceans or remote areas. No private or classified information is used.

How are a flight's origin and destination determined?

ADS-B broadcasts an aircraft's position, not its flight plan, so there is no built-in destination field. This tracker reads each aircraft's recorded track for the day and matches its departure point, arrival point, and farthest turnaround point to the nearest airport. For round-trip flights, the destination shown is the farthest airport reached before the aircraft returned to its origin.

What do the status labels (Confirmed, Estimated, Open ocean) in the flight table mean?

Because each destination is inferred from where an aircraft's ADS-B signal ends, every flight is labeled by how confident that inference is:

What does the "Intl removal" tag mean?

The "Intl removal" tag marks flights whose inferred destination is outside the United States and its territories — an international deportation flight, as opposed to a domestic transfer between U.S. staging airports.

Why do some flights only travel within the United States?

ICE Air frequently repositions detainees between domestic staging airports — hubs such as Alexandria, Louisiana (AEX) and Harlingen, Texas (HRL) — ahead of international removal flights. These domestic legs appear in the table without the "Intl removal" tag.