DHS bought $464 million worth of deportation planes but can't use them.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded a no-bid contract to purchase 10 used aircraft. The agency claimed they were urgently needed for deportation flights. But in reality, the Airbuses have been sitting idle for months, according to The New York Times.

Since last fall, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has spent $464 million on a no-bid contract to buy 10 used aircraft from a Northern Virginia company.

The sum turned out to be enormous, but the department stated that there was no time to consider alternative proposals, since the planes were allegedly urgently needed for deportation flights.

However, since then, the department has hardly used this new aviation group - neither for deportations nor for any other tasks.

On the subject: ICE will purchase stun gloves for its agents that can deliver painful electric shocks.

Three of the aircraft are luxury business jets. Just a few months after the purchase, the department began exploring the possibility of leasing or loaning two of them to other agencies. One of them, according to a letter sent on August 12 by the Democratic leaders of the Senate Budget Committee, was intended to be used for travel by FBI Director Cash Patel.

The remaining seven aircraft are older Boeing 737 passenger jets. As CNN previously reported, the government kept them parked at Lake Charles Airport in Louisiana for months. An internal government document reviewed by The New York Times indicates the agency lacked the personnel to operate them.

The aircraft purchase was part of a series of rushed contracts that the Department of Homeland Security has recently been awarding, regularly citing "urgent needs" to bypass standard procurement procedures. The story of the idle aircraft illustrates the risks this entails: the agency hastily spent nearly half a billion dollars, but ultimately received equipment it doesn't use.

This acquisition illustrates a broader trend in the second Trump administration: contracts awarded without competitive bidding are being awarded to individuals associated with the president himself or his cabinet. Daedalus Aviation Corporation, the company that received the contract, is headed by a chairman who donated to a political committee supporting former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has long contracted out deportation flights to private airlines. They also use military and Coast Guard aircraft. Former immigration officials say the need to spend significant resources on purchasing and maintaining their own fleet is questionable.

"If I were asked to make a list of things US Immigration and Customs Enforcement needs to do to increase deportation rates, buying its own fleet of airplanes would certainly not be in the top 10," said John Sandweg, acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Obama administration.

In a written statement, the Department of Homeland Security attempted to blame the contract on Kristi Noem. President Donald Trump fired her in March and appointed Oklahoma Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin to head the Department of Homeland Security.

"The contract with Daedalus was entered into and approved by department leadership prior to DHS Secretary Mullin's tenure," the statement read. The department emphasized that it "reserves the right to adjust course as requirements and objectives change."

Noem's spokesman, in turn, shifted the blame to Mullin, saying the purchase was "finalized" under his leadership.

According to government procurement data, the contract value increased by $303 million on the day Mullin took office.

The agency stated that the idle Boeing 737s were undergoing maintenance. Two of them are scheduled to begin operating deportation flights this month.

The plane situation is reminiscent of the department's abrupt about-face on purchasing detainee warehouses. Under Noem, the agency spent significant funds on acquiring them, but abandoned the idea just a few months later under Mullin. The department is now giving away or selling seven warehouses, which cost more than $700 million.

An Aug. 12 letter from Democratic Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Christopher Murphy of Connecticut, both members of the Senate Budget Committee, said Department of Homeland Security officials have already acknowledged that most of the planes will not be used for deportations.

"Americans deserve a full accounting of this gross and inefficient use of their tax dollars," said the letter, which was seen by The New York Times.

Senators asked for detailed information on the cost of each aircraft and how exactly they are planned to be used.

Federal law generally requires government agencies to conduct competitive bidding before awarding contracts to ensure the best use of taxpayer funds. However, in this case, the department circumvented this requirement, citing an exception for "especially urgent and compelling circumstances."

This exception has historically been used during natural disasters, wars, and the coronavirus pandemic.

The department declined to answer questions about the specific type of serious damage it was attempting to prevent. According to procurement regulations, agencies are required to publish the rationale for awarding contracts without competitive bidding, but in this case, the department declined to disclose it, claiming that doing so "could harm national security or create other risks."

Since the beginning of Trump's second term, the department has used this waiver to justify more than $29 billion in spending on approximately 500 contracts, according to an analysis of federal data. A significant portion of these funds went toward border wall construction. "Urgency" was also cited in awarding contracts, including $220 million in media projects awarded to companies associated with Noem and her allies; it was the attention to these contracts that contributed to her resignation.

In 2026, such waivers will account for nearly two-thirds of the $34 billion spent by the department on signed contracts. This represents a significant increase from previous years: in 2025, their share was about a quarter, and in 2024, it was less than 1%.

No other major agency has used the "urgency" exception as often as the Department of Homeland Security, even in an administration where no-bid contracts are used regularly—including for events, fountain repairs, and the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool.

Lorna Tedder, a former government procurement expert who spent more than three decades at the US Department of Defense, said, "Sometimes there are genuinely situations where you can't delay—people could die if you don't do something." But if agencies continually invoke this exception, "eventually it will be misused."

The contract for the aircraft was first awarded in late November. At that time, the government was already paying hundreds of millions of dollars to other contractors to service ICE Air's charter flight network.

During Trump's second term, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement chartered approximately 25,800 flights, transporting migrants between detention centers within the country and sending them abroad, primarily to Latin American and Caribbean countries, according to the ICE Flight Monitor project by Human Rights First. According to their observations, on some days, 25 or more planes are in the air at any one time.

However, the Department of Homeland Security then stated that it still needed its own aircraft.

Daedalus, a company based in Arlington, Virginia, which the government hired to select the aircraft, had no prior federal contracts. However, a spokesperson said the company had served as a subcontractor for the evacuation of Afghans who cooperated with the US government.

Daedalus's board chairman is physician William Walters, who until 2021 headed the US State Department unit responsible for evacuating Americans during the Ebola, COVID-19, and other crises. In 2024, after leaving government service, he donated $10,000 to a political committee affiliated with Kristi Noem, then Governor of South Dakota.

Last year, when Noem led the department, another of Walters's companies received a separate contract worth nearly $700 million for a campaign to persuade migrants to voluntarily leave the United States.

A Daedalus spokesman said Walters was unaware of the political committee's ties to Noem.

The company declined to disclose the cost of each of the 10 aircraft or the profit it made by acting as a middleman. In a written statement, the company noted that it was proud to have provided "the best value for American taxpayers."

One of the aircraft is a luxury Boeing 737, painted in the same colors as Trump's new presidential plane, Air Force One. The other two are smaller Gulfstream business jets, each designed to accommodate approximately 14 passengers.

According to data from the independent flight tracking service airplanes.live, these aircraft flew only sporadically after their purchase. The department soon began disposing of two of them, transferring them to other agencies. This follows from information from Democratic senators and an internal document reviewed by The New York Times.

One of the luxury jets "has already been leased to the FBI for 12 months to support Director Patel's travel needs—despite the fact that the FBI already owns its own aircraft for this purpose," the senators wrote.

The FBI confirmed that it uses one of the Gulfstreams, but pays the Department of Homeland Security significantly less than it previously did to a private company for leasing a similar aircraft. Furthermore, the aircraft is used not only for Patel's travel but also for other agency missions.

According to a letter from senators and an internal document, the department attempted to transfer a larger, luxury Boeing to the Pentagon. However, a Defense Department headquarters spokesperson said no agreement was signed.

One of the Gulfstreams, according to the letter, will remain with the Department of Homeland Security for its management needs.

The remaining Boeing 737s appear to be better suited for deportation flights. Flight tracking data shows that they were previously used extensively by Avelo Airlines, a low-cost carrier that operated charter flights for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

However, after the purchase, the government simply parked them.

Daedalus said the two planes were used to evacuate Americans from the Middle East in early March when the war with Iran began.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York

Democratic senators revealed that department officials had confided in them that the four Boeing 737s likely would not be used to transport detained migrants. They said the department plans to use these Boeings to transport members of Congress abroad—a function currently performed by commercial airlines or military aircraft.

The agency plans to enter into a long-term contract with a contractor to provide crews and maintenance for the new fleet. This contract is expected to begin next summer.

Read also on ForumDaily:

The US has launched a massive surveillance campaign targeting left-wing organizations and anti-ICE protesters.

The State Department has created a special unit to combat birth tourism.

USCIS Mandates Electronic Filing of Certain Forms: How the New Rule Will Work

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.