ICE Air does not require a reservation, but it is a one-way flight.
Jairo Soares-Pereira, 37, found that out earlier this month when he was arrested in Malden and quickly flown – via ICE Air – to Brazil to serve his three-year sentence on fraud charges.
“Perpetrators of these types of crimes care very little about the havoc they wreak on the victims involved,” said Todd Lyons, a senior immigration official based in Boston.
Lyons, Field Office Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), said “law enforcement partners” at home and abroad helped send this convicted fraudster back to Brazil.
A charter flight coordinated by ICE’s Air Operations Unit flew Soares-Pereira to Tancredo Neves International Airport in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Interpol, as of Friday, listed 7,016 “red alerts” for illegal immigrants who are being sought back into their home countries to serve prison sentences or stand trial for crimes – and “may pose a threat to public safety” if they flee remain.
Some of the “red leads” posted include aggravated murder, rape, sexual abuse, sexual abuse of a child; a Chinese national wanted for counterfeiting, embezzlement, fraud and violating the US Timber Trade Act; a Russian national wanted for extortion and computer sabotage.
The list is a who’s who of international hotspots from South America to Europe and Africa to the Middle East.
Other countries are looking for these suspects, and ICE Air is being used to fly them there first, the Feds told the Herald.
ICE Air is used “to facilitate the movement of non-citizens within the United States and the deportation of non-citizens to destinations worldwide,” an immigration official said. Charter and commercial flights are used.
“Since 2006, (ICE) has transferred and/or deported hundreds of thousands” of illegal immigrants from the United States, federal officials said. Soares-Pereira happened to be the youngest and he flew out on a commercial airline.
ICE Air says it uses Boeing 737s for “domestic international moves” and Boeing 767s and 777s for “special high-risk charters.” Most illegal Mexican immigrants, ICE adds, are typically flown on commercial flights to San Diego or Brownsville, Texas for transportation to Mexico.
Global departure airports include Mesa, Arizona; San Antonio, Texas; Alexandria, Louisiana; and Miami.
“Special high-risk charter flights will be scheduled as needed to countries or regions (including Europe, Africa and Asia) to remove non-citizens who fail to comply with deportation efforts,” the Feds say, with those “with serious medical conditions; as well as other high profile moves with definitive orders.”
In principle, ICE Air can fly anywhere a refugee is wanted.
“ICE Air Operations is able to facilitate the deportation of foreign nationals from anywhere in the continental United States to anywhere in the world via commercial airline or charter aircraft and ensure their safe and humane return to their countries of origin,” immigration officials say.
It’s not cheap though. Federal officials say the average cost of a charter flight is $8,577 “per flight hour.” A high-risk charter flight averages between $6,929 and $26,795 per flight hour, “depending on aircraft requirements.”
In FY2022, ERO arrested 46,396 non-citizens with criminal records. This group accounted for 198,498 charges and convictions, including 21,531 assault offenses; 8,164 sexual offenses and sexual assaults; 5,554 gun offenses; 1,501 homicides; and 1,114 kidnapping offenses.
Jairo Soares-Pereira disembarks his transfer flight March 10 at Tancredo Neves International Airport in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. (Photo by ICE.gov) An ICE Air charter flight costs an average of $8,577 per flight hour and up to $26,795 per flight hour for high-risk flights. (ICE.gov photo) Jairo Soares-Pereira is arrested in Malden and flown back to Brazil where he was wanted by police. (ICE.gov photo)
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