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U.S. Suspends Costly Deportation Flights Using Military Aircraft

33 points by impish9208 2y ago

impish9208 2y ago
Gift link: https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-deportation-flights-paused-cost-c37c577a?st=NCgrWr https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-deporta...
impish9208 2y ago
> Three deportation flights to India cost $3 million each. Some flights carried a dozen people to Guantanamo at a cost of at least $20,000 for a migrant, the Journal’s analysis showed. > A standard U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flight costs $8,500 per flight hour, according to a government webpage. Former ICE officials told the Journal the figure is closer to $17,000 per flight hour for international trips. > It costs $28,500 per hour to fly a C-17, which is designed to carry heavy cargo and troops, according to U.S. Transportation Command, which provided the aircraft.
- cyanydeez 2y ago
  welcome to the economics of efficiency, curtesy of the smartest men on the planet.
  - aaron695 2y ago
    [dead]
- maxglute 2y ago
  C17 to India would also require multiple refuelling.
uoaei 2y ago
Something I've noticed is that the facade of "efficiency" isn't even being proferred anymore. Only a month and a half in and the mask has dropped completely.
- engineer_22 2y ago
  They've stopped using military transport /because/ they say it's inefficient.
  - iAMkenough 2y ago
    I don't see them calling their own decision inefficient in any reporting or statements.
  - rurp 2y ago
    Nobody was surprised by the cost. Military flights have been used for deportations before and it is well known that they are wildly more expensive than other options. The clowns in charge keep proving that the cost cutting is an extremely weak pretense, but a disturbing number of people still believe them.
- jxjnskkzxxhx 2y ago
  Indeed. It was never about efficiency. What astonishes me is that these obvious lies often trick otherwise smart people. Specifically, I recently watched a roundtable that included John Cochrane and he was super excited about the "brilliant little doge team" and their cost cutting (this was just after they nuked USAID). Like, is it possible that's hes actually stupid? Or maybe media illiterate. Or maybe he's not paying attention to the way the world is going, and still takes these people at face value. All of these are bad looks for someone who's supposed to be a top economist.
  - throwup238 2y ago
    They’re not otherwise smart people. They never were. They were just saying things that you wanted to hear before the mask fell off. When people finally tell you who they are, listen.
jfengel 2y ago
I really wish Biden had just ended Guantanamo. I fully believe that the people remaining there are the worst of the worst, and would do tremendous harm if released, or even given access to the American judicial system. But Guantanamo is a massive stain on America's reputation, a judicial no-man's-land every bit as bad as the gulags of the Soviet Union. I cannot believe that we are sending people there. They're not even accused of terrorism; they were not captured as illegal combatants. This is shameful. We should be ashamed of ourselves. I know that the world is ashamed of us.
- qingcharles 2y ago
  Justice William Brennan once said "The Bill of Rights was designed to protect the rights of the minority, the rights of the despised, the rights of the powerless, against the majority". Attorney Harvey Silverglate also stated, "The rights of the accused are the rights of all of us. If the government can ignore the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for people it doesn't like, it can do so for anyone". Obama should have shut it, Biden should have shut it. Now here we are. Turn it into a wildlife preserve if you don't want to hand it over to the Cubans.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - krapp 2y ago
    Obama tried and was stopped by Congress, Biden made token gestures towards closing it to appease his base but I don't think he was actually opposed to it.
- engineer_22 2y ago
  Are they being held there indefinitely? I was under the impression it was a temporary relocation until they could be forwarded to country of origin? But I frankly can't remember if I've seen any argument from the govt about why they're sending them to gitmo
  - silverquiet 2y ago
rich_sasha 2y ago
Reminds me of an anecdote from communist era Poland. Factory workers were encouraged to suggest means of improving yield and reducing waste. In a pencil factory, a worker observed that no one sharpens a pencil all the way to the very end - there is a minimum length that is comfortable to hold. Therefore the last bit of the lead is never used, and thus wasted. Duly, the factory stopped filling the last 1/4 of the wooden shell with pencil lead and the worker was given a prize. Next year, another factory worker suggested that, since the final 1/4 of the pencil is empty, they might as well get rid of it altogether. Factory accepted the idea and the worker got a prize. First, optimize the country by deporting dangerous immigrants. Then, optimize the deportations by cancelling them due to price.
- engineer_22 2y ago
  They didn't say they're stopping deportations. They said they're not going to use military transportation.
  - throwup238 2y ago
    The whole idea of using military aircraft for deportations to foreign nations already served by commercial airlines was dumb performative bullshit to begin with, but who’s going to fly them to Guantanamo? At the very least that policy might now be prevented by a technicality (and I don’t think the Cuban government is going to let the US transport them through Antonio Maceo International).
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - cyanydeez 2y ago
      the whole idea of immigrant deportations is expensive, regardless the route.
- readthenotes1 2y ago
  Well, except they're still flying them home, just using cheaper methods. So the punchline to your joke would be the guy says they don't even have to drill out that last fourth of the pencil and they can save manufacturing time
9283409232 2y ago
Much like everything else in this administration, smarter people have already been screaming from the rooftops about how expensive and impractical it is[1] but everyone has to learn the hard way. [1] https://immigrationimpact.com/2025/02/07/sending-migrants-guantanamo-bay-costly-abusive-detention/ https://immigrationimpact.com/2025/02/07/sending-migrants-gu...

33 points by impish9208 2y ago

Gift link: https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-deportation-flights-paused-cost-c37c577a?st=NCgrWr https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/trump-deporta...

impish9208 2y ago

> Three deportation flights to India cost $3 million each. Some flights carried a dozen people to Guantanamo at a cost of at least $20,000 for a migrant, the Journal’s analysis showed. > A standard U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flight costs $8,500 per flight hour, according to a government webpage. Former ICE officials told the Journal the figure is closer to $17,000 per flight hour for international trips. > It costs $28,500 per hour to fly a C-17, which is designed to carry heavy cargo and troops, according to U.S. Transportation Command, which provided the aircraft.

cyanydeez 2y ago
welcome to the economics of efficiency, curtesy of the smartest men on the planet.
- aaron695 2y ago
  [dead]
maxglute 2y ago
C17 to India would also require multiple refuelling.

uoaei 2y ago

Something I've noticed is that the facade of "efficiency" isn't even being proferred anymore. Only a month and a half in and the mask has dropped completely.

engineer_22 2y ago
They've stopped using military transport /because/ they say it's inefficient.
- iAMkenough 2y ago
  I don't see them calling their own decision inefficient in any reporting or statements.
- rurp 2y ago
  Nobody was surprised by the cost. Military flights have been used for deportations before and it is well known that they are wildly more expensive than other options. The clowns in charge keep proving that the cost cutting is an extremely weak pretense, but a disturbing number of people still believe them.
jxjnskkzxxhx 2y ago
Indeed. It was never about efficiency. What astonishes me is that these obvious lies often trick otherwise smart people. Specifically, I recently watched a roundtable that included John Cochrane and he was super excited about the "brilliant little doge team" and their cost cutting (this was just after they nuked USAID). Like, is it possible that's hes actually stupid? Or maybe media illiterate. Or maybe he's not paying attention to the way the world is going, and still takes these people at face value. All of these are bad looks for someone who's supposed to be a top economist.
- throwup238 2y ago
  They’re not otherwise smart people. They never were. They were just saying things that you wanted to hear before the mask fell off. When people finally tell you who they are, listen.

jfengel 2y ago

I really wish Biden had just ended Guantanamo. I fully believe that the people remaining there are the worst of the worst, and would do tremendous harm if released, or even given access to the American judicial system. But Guantanamo is a massive stain on America's reputation, a judicial no-man's-land every bit as bad as the gulags of the Soviet Union. I cannot believe that we are sending people there. They're not even accused of terrorism; they were not captured as illegal combatants. This is shameful. We should be ashamed of ourselves. I know that the world is ashamed of us.

qingcharles 2y ago
Justice William Brennan once said "The Bill of Rights was designed to protect the rights of the minority, the rights of the despised, the rights of the powerless, against the majority". Attorney Harvey Silverglate also stated, "The rights of the accused are the rights of all of us. If the government can ignore the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for people it doesn't like, it can do so for anyone". Obama should have shut it, Biden should have shut it. Now here we are. Turn it into a wildlife preserve if you don't want to hand it over to the Cubans.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- krapp 2y ago
  Obama tried and was stopped by Congress, Biden made token gestures towards closing it to appease his base but I don't think he was actually opposed to it.
engineer_22 2y ago
Are they being held there indefinitely? I was under the impression it was a temporary relocation until they could be forwarded to country of origin? But I frankly can't remember if I've seen any argument from the govt about why they're sending them to gitmo
- silverquiet 2y ago

rich_sasha 2y ago

Reminds me of an anecdote from communist era Poland. Factory workers were encouraged to suggest means of improving yield and reducing waste. In a pencil factory, a worker observed that no one sharpens a pencil all the way to the very end - there is a minimum length that is comfortable to hold. Therefore the last bit of the lead is never used, and thus wasted. Duly, the factory stopped filling the last 1/4 of the wooden shell with pencil lead and the worker was given a prize. Next year, another factory worker suggested that, since the final 1/4 of the pencil is empty, they might as well get rid of it altogether. Factory accepted the idea and the worker got a prize. First, optimize the country by deporting dangerous immigrants. Then, optimize the deportations by cancelling them due to price.

engineer_22 2y ago
They didn't say they're stopping deportations. They said they're not going to use military transportation.
- throwup238 2y ago
  The whole idea of using military aircraft for deportations to foreign nations already served by commercial airlines was dumb performative bullshit to begin with, but who’s going to fly them to Guantanamo? At the very least that policy might now be prevented by a technicality (and I don’t think the Cuban government is going to let the US transport them through Antonio Maceo International).
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - cyanydeez 2y ago
    the whole idea of immigrant deportations is expensive, regardless the route.
readthenotes1 2y ago
Well, except they're still flying them home, just using cheaper methods. So the punchline to your joke would be the guy says they don't even have to drill out that last fourth of the pencil and they can save manufacturing time

9283409232 2y ago

Much like everything else in this administration, smarter people have already been screaming from the rooftops about how expensive and impractical it is[1] but everyone has to learn the hard way. [1] https://immigrationimpact.com/2025/02/07/sending-migrants-guantanamo-bay-costly-abusive-detention/ https://immigrationimpact.com/2025/02/07/sending-migrants-gu...