Air Wisconsin has done 60+ ICE flights since mid-January

ICE has secretly flown shackled migrants more than 60 times on Air Wisconsin since mid-January, according to flight data collected by ICE Flight Monitor at Human Rights First and reported exclusively here.

This follows the recent sale of Air Wisconsin operations and 13 of its commuter jets to Albuquerque-based CSI Aviation, ICE Air’s flight broker. Of the 13 jets, eight have been used for ICE flights so far, HRF said.

“We’re concerned that the high volume of these new ICE Air flights over just the past few weeks signifies further escalation of the Trump administration’s detention and deportation campaign,” said HRF director of research Savi Arvey, “which entirely disregards the due process rights of those boarded on these planes and, on a daily basis, separates families across the country.”

HRF tracked about 60 likely ICE flights by Air Wisconsin between Jan. 15 and 31. These flights have continued in February, though HRF did not say how many.

On Thursday, following a tip from activist flight tracker “JJ in DC,” I watched from a public parking lot near Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport as federal agents frisked shackled migrants before they boarded a 50-seater CRJ jet. It was parked in one of the spots ICE leases from aircraft servicer AGI. The plane’s exterior had been painted with an all-white livery with no visible branding – just as the Avelo Airlines planes used for ICE flights had been.

Flight data shows the jet had come from Milwaukee and continued on to Alexandria, La., an ICE detention center hub, using Air Wisconsin’s callsign. It also made multiple trips between Minneapolis and El Paso in recent days.

Activist and aviation enthusiast Nick Benson – who has kept a detailed log of ICE flights in and out of Minneapolis during the city's occupation, and even figured out which commercial carriers were carrying captured children to detention centers – was surprised to learn of the flights.

“Digging through flight histories to update my MSP data now,” he told me on Bluesky. “Right under my damn nose.”

Air Wisconsin’s sale to CSI Aviation, completed on Jan. 9, was first reported Tuesday by the Appleton (Wis.) Post-Crescent. While the story noted CSI Aviation’s association with immigration flights, it incorrectly described CSI’s 2025 federal contract for $562 million as pertaining to “immigrant self-deportation flights.”

CSI is ICE’s flight broker. Nearly every charter flight holding captured migrants – currently more than 50 flights a day – is subcontracted through CSI. Its current contract is worth up to $1.2 billion.

FAQ: What is ICE Air?

All adults and some children on ICE flights are shackled at the wrists and ankles attached to a chain around their waists, a practice DHS says is needed for flight security, though it is decried by air crews for the risk to passenger safety, and by human-rights groups for the pain and suffering caused by long periods of shackling. Shackling for only a few hours can cause bruising, swelling, cuts, permanent nerve damage and life-threatening blood clots, medical experts say. As I reported in Mother Jones last week, migrants have reported being shackled on ICE flights for more than 80 hours at a time.

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the union representing Air Wisconsin’s furloughed flight attendants, released a statement in late January saying the flight attendants had been recalled after the airline was acquired by a new owner, which it did not identify. About one-third of the flight attendants chose to return, the union said, noting it had negotiating a pay raise for them.

On Thursday, AFA-CWA told me flight attendants were informed they would be doing “charter flying for government contracts including FEMA, and other organizations such as [the] NCAA.” Local union leaders warned flight attendants that CSI’s government work included ICE flights, but “at the time of the recall, there was not a clear understanding of what type of flying they would be doing or how much.”

Judging from the flight data, it appears the vast majority of that flying has been for ICE.

Thank you for reading. I am a former Washington Post staff writer, and as far as I know, I’m the only journalist in America covering ICE flights full time. I am committed to keeping this reporting non-paywalled, but if you are able, please sign up for a paid subscription or send me a one-time tip, so I can continue this important work. –Gillian