Henrico congressional representatives express alarm, demand answers from ICE as RIC deportation flights soar to new high in September

A total of 89 Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flights have flown out of Richmond International Airport so far this year – an 81% increase from 2024, when the total for the entire year was 50.

Those statistics are according to the latest report from the Human Rights First ICE Flight Monitor September 2025 Monthly Report, which tallied a total of 16 deportation flights departing out of Richmond International Airport last month – four times as many as departed the airport last September.

That accumulated number puts RIC in the top 25 airports with ICE inbound flights according to the HRC’s latest report. 

The spike and the affiliated arrest, detention and deportation practices that have raised concerns from numerous human rights organizations have elicited strong concerns from U.S. Representative Jennifer McClelllan (D-VA-04), whose district includes the airport, as well as Virginia’s U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.

“Reported conditions of the deportation flights at Richmond International Airport have been nothing short of horrific,” McClellan said in an emailed message to the Henrico Citizen. “I strongly oppose the unfettered use of our public facilities to carry out these heinous acts, and I remain alarmed and outraged by the broader pattern of ICE deployment in Virginia. Not only do these aggressive and authoritarian tactics undermine public trust and threaten the well-being of our immigrant communities, but they jeopardize all our safety — including U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who have been swept up in this feverish campaign.”

In an emailed statement to the Citizen, Warner wrote: “It’s disheartening to see the Trump administration take advantage of Richmond International Airport’s legal obligation to provide access to on-site facilities for U.S. government flights. Given this administration’s track record of inhumane detainee treatment and its disregard for due process, I have serious concerns about the secrecy and lack of transparency surrounding these flights. My office is in contact with airport officials and DHS and I’ll be seeking more answers.”

Kaine's office emailed the Citizen and said that the senator “believes that those going through deportation proceedings should have access to counsel and due process, and cases should be adjudicated by a fair and impartial judge. He will push to ensure immigration operations are conducted in a fair and transparent way.”

As reported last month exclusively by the Citizen, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and HRF report the Trump administration's ramped up deportation campaign is unprecedented and view it as dangerous — not only to the rights of those it targets, but also, according to both groups, to democracy.

“The administration has carried out removals of people whose immigration case had not yet been decided by a judge, people who arrived to seek asylum and were expelled without even a screening of their claims, and people who ostensibly accepted 'voluntary' departure or return — often under coercion, threats by immigration agents or pressure stemming from abusive and prolonged detention conditions,” this month’s HRF report read, also citing human rights abuses it reported some deportees experienced while shackled for hours during the deportation process.

Through data gathered through open-source tracking platforms that provide real-time and historical information about aircrafts, HRF counted a total of 8,877 immigration enforcement flights for the period of Jan. 20 through Sept. 30 this year – the highest total since tracking began in 2020 and a 61% increase from the same period in 2024.

In September alone, ICE Flight Monitor recorded at least 1,464 U.S. immigration enforcement flights — the highest monthly total to date, averaging 49 flights per day.

HRF outlines due-process concerns

As the deportation campaign escalates nationwide, the number of these related enforcement flights continues to surge, raising significant due-process concerns regarding the underlying legality of these mass enforcement actions, HRF said in its report.

The rise in flights in September is enabled by ICE Air expanding its operations by adding new subcontracted charter carrier and beginning to use new planes through existing carriers – such as Avelo Airlines and Eastern Airlines – starting in mid-September.

During the first three months of the Trump administration (Jan. 20 to April 20), the monthly average of ICE deportation flights was 723. But in the three months from July through September, that average nearly doubled, to 1,371.

September marked a record number of removal destination countries, including the first removal flight to Iran via transfer in Qatar. Human rights organizations are raising concern about deportations to countries in which the United States lacks diplomatic relations and where serious human rights concerns persist. The group of people on the Iran deportation flight were reported to include political dissidents, a Christian convert and others who had sought and had been either denied or prevented from seeking asylum.

Deportation flights from Richmond are categorized as shuffle flights destined for enormous detention centers in the Alexandria, Louisiana hub and throughout the state's prison system, which has been transformed into a web of detention centers.

Between Jan. 20 and Sept. 30, there were a staggering 5,322 shuffle flights, a 53% increase from the 2,827 such flights in the same period in 2024, according to HRF. The figure included a record 969 such flights in September alone, the group reported.

The increase in domestic shuffle flights under the second Trump administration raises serious concerns as individuals are frequently moved far from their families and legal representation, often isolated in facilities with harsh conditions. Other concerns surround the cost of ICE deportation operations, with transfers, costing $100K per person, per day in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base detention center.

Airplanes flying shackled deportees from the Richmond airport to the Alexandria, Louisiana deportation center and beyond are being performed by new contractors initiated this year, though all flights block their identifying owner on sites such as FlightAware, raising concerns about not only the lack of due process in the deportations but also the secrecy of the operations.

One of the two deportation flights documented by the Citizen earlier in September at the private Richmond Jet Center terminal at RIC were operated by Eastern Airlines. That September deportation flight was just one of the 41 the company had flown in September.

The other smaller, unmarked deportation flight reported on by the Citizen on a dreary September morning was owned and operated by Key Lime, a company that flew a total of 89 deportation flights last month, according to the HRF report. 

The top deportation flight operators are GlobalX, which flew 621 deportation flights in September, and Avelo, which flew 318 deportation flights last month.

RIC's Miller: Airport is 'federally obligated facility'

Only after the Citizen’s reporting of documented, increased deportation flights out of RIC did airport leadership acknowledge the presence and frequency of these flights.

“I am aware that law enforcement flights involving detainees, conducted by agencies such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Marshals Service, have occurred at Richmond International Airport for many years under multiple presidential administrations. Multiple media reports suggest that the frequency of these flights has increased in recent months,” wrote Perry J. Miller, president and CEO of the Capital Region Airport Commission, in an email statement.

“As a federally obligated facility, the airport does not have the authority to approve or deny lawful flight operations. The airport does not track or monitor charter flights in real time, and while we receive monthly summaries from our fixed-base operators, those reports do not specify the nature or purpose of individual flights. If there are concerns regarding the treatment of detainees or potential human rights issues, I would encourage those concerns to be directed to the appropriate federal law enforcement agencies for review and response.”

The Citizen requested information from ICE about its deportation operations in Virginia, which has included arrests of thousands of people who have been detained, as well as details of any charges against the shackled people who have been flown out on the deportation flights but has not received a response via email or through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Secrecy, lack of transparency concerns

In a Sept. 29 letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons, McClellan expressed those concerns with a list of questions seeking to clarify the number of flights at RIC, the number of people who have been put on those flights, the flights’ destinations and treatment of the people on board. Also, of concern, McClellan wrote: whether people on the Richmond flights are destined for what she termed the “illegal Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador.”

“My team and I are aware of the situation and have been in contact with RIC about these flights,” McClellan said in an email response. “I similarly sent a letter to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security demanding answers about how many individuals have been transported and the conditions those in custody have been subjected to, based on disturbing reports of full-body shackles, overcrowded flights and more.

“Congress and the public deserve full transparency into ICE’s use of public infrastructure. The efforts of ICE to obscure and hide from public view raise concerns as to the legality of their actions, making the need for Congressional oversight even more apparent. I will continue to monitor the situation closely, and I find it imperative that ICE treat all people equally under the law with dignity and respect.”

Some officials choose not to comment about ICE flights

While many of the shackled people being led onto to the ICE deportation flights in September appeared to be Hispanic, Catholic Diocese of Richmond Bishop Barry C. Knestout did not produce an original statement on the treatment of migrants assumed to be living and working in Virginia facing deportation during the recent Weekend of the Migrant, which occurred during the first weekend of October.

His office sent the Citizen an email outlining that Bishop Knestout is aligned with the position of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on migration: “We uphold the belief that all people are conceived with inherent dignity, reflecting the image of God. Through our parishes, shelters, hospitals, schools, and other Church institutions, we recognize that this dignity is not dependent on a person's citizenship or immigration status. We recognize the need for just immigration enforcement and affirm the government’s obligation to carry it out in a targeted, proportional, and humane way.”

Knestout’s spokesperson wrote that copied quote was from a statement issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration and other church leadership.

U.S. Congressman Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) did not respond to questions about his stance on ICE deportations and State Sen. Lashrecse D. Aird (D-13th District) said she was unable to provide comment.

Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas opted not to comment for this article.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office did not respond to repeated requests to comment on the number of ICE flights and concerns about conditions, but did clarify questions about the role of the Virginia National Guard mobilization to assist ICE, stating that approximately 40 soldiers and airmen were activated on  Sept. 15, 2025, with a mission to provide administrative and logistics support to ICE at locations across the state.

“After two days of in-processing and training, the troops reported for duty at ICE field offices to start their support, and the mission is expected to continue through Nov. 15. Additional personnel are scheduled to mobilize later this month, up to a maximum of 60 people. The soldiers and Airmen are assigned to units across Virginia,” an email from Youngkin's office read. “Virginia National Guard Soldiers and Airmen supporting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are not involved in ICE deportation flight operations, and Soldiers assigned to the VNG’s Army Aviation Support Facility in Sandston are not supporting ICE deportation flight operations.

McClellan said that she opposes diverting the Virginia National Guard from its primary mission to “help facilitate unconstitutional and needlessly cruel ICE activity.”

“I am working closely with other Virginia offices to ensure that the National Guard works in a purely administrative capacity, and I urge the governor not to extend the mission past its current November 15th end date,” McClellan said.

Kaine said he shared concerns about deploying the VNG.

“We need to uphold our country’s immigration laws, but deploying the National Guard for immigration enforcement within the United States is different than the border — especially considering how recent ICE operations in Virginia and elsewhere have raised so many questions about abusive practices and disruption of restaurants, Home Depots, and other everyday locations,” Kaine said in a statement.

CRAC to receive update at October meeting

At the last Capital Region Airport Commission meeting, Henrico Supervisor Rev. Tyrone Nelson, who sits on that board and represents the Varina District, where the airport is located, brought up concerns about the members of the commission not being informed of deportations flights taking place at RIC. He raised questions about the ethics of the flights under the CRAC’s responsibility.

Nelson’s office wrote in an email to the Citizen that commissioners will find out more about the deportation flights at the next CRAC meeting Oct. 28.

“Commission staff will provide an update at the October monthly meeting and has requested that Richmond Jet Center provide one as well,” said Troy M. Bell, director of air service development and corporate communications at RIC.

Dina Weinstein is the Citizen’s community vitality reporter and a Report for America corps member, covering housing, health and transportation. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.