Memphis advocates call on private airport to stop servicing ICE detention flights

Memphis advocates on Tuesday called on a privately-run aviation company to stop servicing flights that transport detained immigrants out of the state.

Volunteers with Vecindarios 901, a Memphis mutual aid organization that coordinates a “rapid response” network to help immigrants impacted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said they have tracked 51 flights since March transporting detainees from Wilson Air Center. Using publicly available flight tracking data, the group has traced most of these flight destinations to Alexandria, Louisiana, where ICE has established a large detention facility. 

Maria Oceja, Vecindarios 901 co-founder, urged owners of the Wilson Air Center, located on the site of the Memphis International Airport, to “reconsider your role” in the Trump administration’s mass immigrant detention and deportation operations.

“The Trump administration has separated parents from their children, wives from their husbands and families from their communities,” said Oceja, citing increased detentions as a result of ICE’s participation in the Memphis Safe Task Force and an uptick in detentions statewide that have brought hundreds of immigrants to a detention center in the city of Mason, located about 40 miles from the airport.

“Before they can even contact an attorney to fight their case in court they’re immediately flown out of this airport to a detention center in Louisiana, Alabama or another detention center in another part of the United States.” she said.

“By flying them out they are losing the opportunity to fight  their case in Tennessee so they can stay with their families,” she said. Advocates on Tuesday also raised safety concerns over the use of restraints during flights that could place individuals at risk during air emergencies.

Wilson Air Center did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment. 

ICE Air Operations, a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, coordinates the majority of flights via contracts with airline companies to transport detained immigrants to detention centers within the U.S. and on deportation flights outside the country. 

In a statement received after publication, a spokesperson for ICE noted that ICE Air Operations provides “a network of air transportation to Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) 25 field offices to facilitate the movement of illegal aliens within the United States and their removal to destinations worldwide via air charter and commercial charter services.”

The transportation of detainees between facilities is routine, for reasons that include “capacity, security or logistical needs,” the spokesperson said.

Individuals are fully restrained during the flights per ICE policy, the spokesperson said.

“Detainees transported by ICE Air aircraft will be fully restrained using handcuffs, waist chains, and leg irons” during the flights, the spokesperson said. They are also provided meals and drinks.

“ICE is committed to the safety and welfare of those in custody throughout the entire transfer and removal process. Allegations of inhumane treatment or attempts to hide information is categorically false,” the spokesperson said.

In June, there were a total of 1,889 immigration enforcement flights — a 59% increase from June 2025, according to ICE Flight Monitor, which tracks flights using publicly available data.