Starting in late 2025, DHS spent $464 million on a no-bid contract for 10 used planes, citing an urgent need for deportation flights. The planes then sat idle for months at a Louisiana airport. Three are luxury business jets, one now lent to FBI Director Kash Patel, whose bureau already has its own; another was outfitted with a bedroom, shower, bar, and flat-screen televisions. The seven Boeing 737s, DHS said, it lacked the staff to fly. The vendor, a first-time federal contractor, has a chairman who donated to a political committee tied to then-Secretary Kristi Noem, who approved the deal before Trump fired her. Former DHS officials and Senate appropriators call it a waste and have asked the inspector general to investigate.
SourcesHomeland Security paid $464M for planes, then parked them (New York Times) · The deportation planes sitting idle in Louisiana (CNN) · The no-bid deal and the donor contractor (Newser)
Named hereKristi Noem · Kash Patel
