WASHINGTON — The plane that oversees the Department of Homeland Security told the White House Office of Management and Budget it needs immigration-deporting planes and the cabin for Cabinet officials has a bedroom with a queen bed, showers, a kitchen, four large flat-screen TVs and a bar, according to photos of the plane obtained by NBC News.
DHS recently began leasing the Boeing 737 Max 8, which DHS officials described as a luxury aircraft, but now Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking approval from OMB to buy it for $70 million, according to two DHS officials involved in the request. ICE told OMB it would be used to deport and visit Cabinet officials, the two officials said.
A DHS spokeswoman said “at least one of the bedrooms is being converted into a living space for the aircraft to meet the needs of its deportation operations” when asked how the plane would be used for deportation.
Some officials at ICE, which is under DHS, initially thought the plane was too fancy because it was decorated to be used for immigration deportation, according to one of the officials. The request to buy the plane has some DHS officials privately questioning whether it is a necessary expense to support President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy.
A DHS spokesperson said the flight is intended to save taxpayers money.
“This new aircraft will serve a dual purpose – as ICE deportation flights and cabin travel,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “This flight costs 40% less than what a military jet flies on ICE deportation flights—saving the American taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars. This is part of Secretary Noem’s efforts to close inefficiencies and save taxpayer dollars.”
OMB did not respond to a request for comment.
The interior of the luxury jet has room for 18 passengers, and can sleep 14 people, according to promotional materials obtained by NBC News..
Most deportation planes carry 50 to 100 prisoners, as well as doctors and security officials. Some planes used for deportation have metal bars on the floor where immigrants considered high-risk can be detained.
One of the two DHS officials involved in the procurement proposal called the idea of using a plane to deport immigrants “far-fetched.”
“But that’s what they want,” the official said of DHS leadership.
Typically, ICE uses chartered planes rather than military planes or purchased planes for deportations.
Military deportation planes were 10 times more expensive than planes chartered by ICE when the military began deporting immigrants from the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, last year. A DHS spokeswoman did not provide the cost of the luxury airline flight per person to be deported.
ICE bought five non-premium 737s as part of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s plan to replace the agency with its own fighter jets. The agency plans to buy a total of eight, said one DHS official.
Political appointees at ICE and OMB are also considering using a luxury version of the 737 after discussing “reversible” methods of deportation, according to DHS officials.
“That plane said ‘no,’ we wouldn’t buy it. Then suddenly, they said ‘yes,'” said the official.
The official added that they expect the OMB to approve the purchase.
Noem recently flew to Tel Aviv, according to marketing materials given to passengers on the trip detailing the flight’s features.
The materials featured photos of its various rooms and highlighted its “unique interior design by renowned New York designer Peter Marino.”
“No expense has been spared and every detail has been used with care,” the brochure reads.
DHS’s aircraft purchases have raised questions internally before. Some Coast Guard officials viewed Noem’s purchase of a $170 million plane to replace the aging Coast Guard plane used for his trips as an unnecessary expense, NBC News reported, citing two U.S. officials, a Coast Guard officer, a former Coast Guard officer and two DHS officials.
