Hickenlooper Demands Answers About ICE’s Secretive Domestic Air Transfer Network

ICE's domestic air network has exploded to over 18,000 flights since Trump took office, with zero transparency or accountability into operations and costs

Repeated transfers can disrupt access to counsel, medical care, and pressure individuals to self-deport, with some detainees being transferred 15+ times

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper demanded answers from the Department of Homeland Security, sending a letter questioning the substantial increase in domestic transfer flights that move detainees in Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) custody between ICE detention centers and deportation staging facilities.

In his letter, Hickenlooper highlighted the number of so-called "shuttle" flights carrying detainees between immigration detention centers and deportation staging facilities has increased substantially since President Trump took office, with over 18,000 domestic shuttle flights reportedly conducted since January 2025. The frequency with which individual detainees are transferred has also increased. A 2026 investigation identified detainees transferred nine, twelve, and thirteen times. In another reported case, between May and July 2025, a 20-year-old man with no criminal record was transferred 15 times between facilities in Florida, California, Arizona, Hawaii, and Louisiana. This expanded network and frequency creates more confusion and chaos for detainees - a majority of which have never been convicted of a violent crime - that can disrupt access to legal counsel, cut off communication with family and community members, and delay medical care.

"We are concerned by the scale and frequency of these transfers, the costs to taxpayers, and the impact repeated transfers can have on detainees' access to legal counsel, medical care, and other essential services," wrote Hickenlooper. "Repeated transfers have significant consequences for detainees and their families. Transfers often disrupt communication with counsel, delay attorneys' and families' abilities to locate detainees (particularly due to lags and policy changes pertaining to ICE's Online Detainee Locator System), and interfere with continuity of medical care. Detainees have also reported difficulties accessing commissary funds following transfers."

By analyzing millions of flight records, reviewing federal detention data, examining court filings and documenting specific flights, investigative reporters led by local Colorado station 9News/KUSA-TV found a vast domestic transportation system that ICE uses to move detainees from one part of the country to another, often multiple times, before those detainees are deported or released.

According to Human Rights First, 8,721 domestic transfer flights were recorded in 2025, compared to 3,975 in 2024. In July 2026, 1,363 flights were recorded - a 75 percent increase from July 2025. In August 2026, 1,267 flights were recorded across 56 U.S. cities. Between January and July 2025, 12 percent of detainees were transferred four or more times.

In addition, Hickenlooper demanded transparency into the costs of these more than 18,000 domestic shuttle flights to the American taxpayer. Just six multi-leg flights chartered by DHS to transport detainees to and from Guantanamo Bay in 2026 cost $979,000, according to a 2026 Department of Defense Inspector General report.

Watch Hickenlooper's interview with 9News HERE.

Hickenlooper requested written responses to the following questions:

1. Domestic transfer flights: How many domestic transfer flights did ICE conduct between January 1, 2025, and September 1, 2026? Please provide a monthly breakdown, including the departure and arrival cities for each leg of the transfer and the cost of each leg of these flights.
2. Purpose of transfers: What percentage of domestic transfer flights were to removal staging facilities, and what percentage were to other detention facilities?
3. Facility capacity: For domestic transfer flights to other detention facilities, how many transfers originated from facilities operating below 85 percent of capacity? Please provide the number of transfers by originating facility alongside the monthly average daily population of the facility at the time of the transfer.
4. Frequency of transfers: How many individuals in ICE custody were placed on domestic transfer flights more than once during this period? Please provide the number and percentage of detainees transferred one, two, three, four, or more times.
5. Continuity of services: What policies and procedures does ICE use to ensure that transferred detainees maintain uninterrupted access to counsel, medical care, prescribed medications, and commissary funds?
6. Access to counsel: If an individual transferred to a different ICE facility has a pending virtual attorney visit scheduled, how does ICE ensure that the meeting can take place? Additionally, how does ICE ensure that detainees who are transferred don't have to re-register their attorney for legal calls upon arrival at new facilities?
7. Medical care: What is ICE's policy when a receiving facility does not include a detainee's current medication in its formulary? Under that circumstance, what options is the detainee provided in terms of medical care?
8. Ground transportation: Between January 1, 2025 and September 1, 2026, how much has ICE spent on moving detainees between ICE facilities via ground transportation?
9. Transfers by AOR: For each ICE Area of Responsibility (AOR), please provide monthly counts of transfers out of the AOR involving individuals without a final order of removal. Please disaggregate these figures by air and ground transportation and include the estimated cost associated with these transfers.

Hickenlooper has been outspoken in the face of ICE's lawlessness and demanded a top-to-bottom overhaul of the agency to stop ICE from terrorizing our communities. Hickenlooper also voted against the DHS funding bill because it failed to overhaul ICE. He has consistently pushed for more oversight andtransparency for federal immigration enforcement efforts, and has worked to help families desperately searching for loved ones arrested by ICE. In January, Hickenlooper spoke on the Senate floor to denounce the horrifying killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, condemn the reports that families in Eagle County found "death cards" left in the cars of family members taken by ICE agents, and to demand the overhaul of ICE. He's shown up at ICE facilities previously to conduct congressional oversight visits and raise concerns about ICE disregarding due process. He helped launch an investigation into ICE's unlawful obstruction of congressional oversight, introduced legislation to ban ICE from wearing masks, and pushed to cut back the excessive funding that MAGA Republicans gave to ICE.

For full text of the letter, click HERE.

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