Lawmakers sound alarm on ICE ‘ghost flights,’ missing aviation data

A group of 32 congressional Democrats is calling for the Federal Aviation Administration to help hold Immigration and Customs Enforcement accountable following reports that the Department of Homeland Security unit is withholding aviation data. 

While deportation flights significantly increased last year, data about the air operations is difficult to find, according to the House members’ letter to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. The representatives are asking for a detailed report about ICE’s use of the Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed (LADD) program and whether the FAA is aware of additional data-suppression methods contributing to the decreased transparency. 

“LADD was established to enable private aircraft owners and operators of non-commercial flights to filter their flight data from public display websites,” the coalition said in the letter sent Monday. “ICE’s use of this program to obscure routine government operations and suppress information about deportation flights is out of the scope of this program, and therefore inappropriate and dangerous.”

When asked for comment by FedScoop, an FAA spokesperson said the agency would be responding directly to members of Congress. ICE did not respond prior to publication. 

The letter follows a steady stream of criticism from lawmakers and advocacy groups about the “ghost flights.” 

Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett was a signatory of Monday’s letter and introduced related legislation earlier this year. If passed, the Track ICE Act would require the release of comprehensive immigration enforcement flight data within 72 hours of takeoff and prohibits aircraft operators from concealing tracking data about federal missions. 

“Reports of ICE abusing FAA privacy programs to shield deportation flights from public scrutiny — alongside deeply disturbing accounts of inhumane conditions on these flights — demand immediate oversight and answers,” Crockett said in a Monday statement. 

A group of Democratic senators sent a letter to DHS leadership in October 2025 that expressed concern over lagging transparency and oversight of Immigration Airspace Operations.

“IAO has been at the center of troubling actions ICE has taken under this administration but provides no public data on its operations,” the senators said in the letter.

Nonpartisan group Human Right First runs a data-driven project, called ICE Flight Monitor, that has tracked and documented immigration enforcement flights since January 2020 via publicly available data. The organization has, similarly, called for greater transparency from the federal government about the flights. 

“Our ICE Flight Monitor project has tracked thousands of these flights transferring people far from their loved ones and counsel, even to countries that are not their own, and at times in violation of court orders,” Robyn Barnard, senior director on the refugee and immigrant rights team at Human Rights First, said in a January press release. “This government refuses to be transparent in its use of taxpayer dollars or its treatment of human beings.”