"These photos are not accurate if you're referring to the airplanes that the Department of Homeland Security has purchased and are purchasing. We're using them for long-range command and control aircraft that is dictated in statute by Congress for the Department of Homeland Security to have a plane."
"We used a 737. I've been on it once, but it is being used by other administration officials and it is used for command and control flights for the department. The department has found that in purchasing our aircraft, that we will save the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars."
"In fact, we spent $1.42 billion on ICE deportation flights last year."
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on DHS funding, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse questioned Secretary Kristi Noem about the department's use of a luxury Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft. The plane, which DHS had been leasing and sought to purchase, was equipped with a queen bed, showers, kitchen, flat-screen TVs, and a bar. Noem claimed the luxury amenities were being removed and stated the aircraft serves as a long-range command-and-control plane mandated by Congress. She asserted the purchase would save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and noted DHS spent $1.42 billion on ICE deportation flights the previous year. The exchange highlighted tension between the senator's concerns about luxury spending and the secretary's justification for the aircraft's necessity and cost-effectiveness.
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