THREAD: Last year, ProPublica started receiving tips from an unusual kind of source: flight attendants.
They said they'd worked on deportation flights for ICE, and they could tell us what it was really like on board. 1/
They said they'd worked on deportation flights for ICE, and they could tell us what it was really like on board. 1/
Most of the flight attendants hadn't knowingly signed up to help deport people. When they took their jobs, they’d expected to fly VIPs to glamorous locales.
Then the airline started working for ICE, and many or most of their passengers were detainees, people in chains. 2/
Then the airline started working for ICE, and many or most of their passengers were detainees, people in chains. 2/
We spoke with 7 current and former Global Crossing Airlines crew members. Their accounts were consistent with one another and aligned with what’s in legal filings and other records about ICE Air—important because neither GlobalX nor ICE answered any of ProPublica's questions. 3/
The flight attendants’ training classes hadn't prepared them for this, they told us.
One flight attendant said: “They never taught us anything regarding the immigration flights... They didn’t tell us these people were going to be shackled, wrists to fucking ankles.” 4/
One flight attendant said: “They never taught us anything regarding the immigration flights... They didn’t tell us these people were going to be shackled, wrists to fucking ankles.” 4/
The flight attendants said there were new rules to follow, though:
•Don’t talk to the detainees.
•Don’t feed them.
•Don’t make eye contact.
•Don’t walk down the aisles without a guard escorting you.
•Don’t sit in aisle seats, where detainees could get close to you. 5/
•Don’t talk to the detainees.
•Don’t feed them.
•Don’t make eye contact.
•Don’t walk down the aisles without a guard escorting you.
•Don’t sit in aisle seats, where detainees could get close to you. 5/
One flight attendant described needing to give emergency oxygen to a little girl traveling with her parents on a deportation flight. The girl had collapsed with low oxygen saturation and a high fever, and the flight was diverted back to the US. But when paramedics rushed on... 6/
...only the mom was allowed to join the little girl as they took her to the hospital, the flight attendant said.
The flight attendant said the dad had to stay, and that he was going to be deported without the rest of his family, without knowing if his daughter would live. 7/
The flight attendant said the dad had to stay, and that he was going to be deported without the rest of his family, without knowing if his daughter would live. 7/
Three flight attendants said they did get some rare guidance on how to run evacuations on deportation flights from ICE Air pilots.
“Just get up and leave” after you open the exit door, one recalls a pilot telling him. “That’s it... Save your life first." 8/
“Just get up and leave” after you open the exit door, one recalls a pilot telling him. “That’s it... Save your life first." 8/
“It was as if the detainees’ lives were worthless,” another said.
The flight attendants who spoke with ProPublica believed those lives were not worthless. That, many of them said, is why they no longer fly for ICE Air—and why they shared their stories. 9/
propublica.org/article/inside…
The flight attendants who spoke with ProPublica believed those lives were not worthless. That, many of them said, is why they no longer fly for ICE Air—and why they shared their stories. 9/
propublica.org/article/inside…
Though we didn’t hear from GlobalX, then-CEO Ed Wegel did address deportation flights in 2023.
“In the time that we've been flying, we've not seen any inhumane treatment,” he said. "There have been threats made to our crew members...But we haven't seen any mistreatment at all.”
“In the time that we've been flying, we've not seen any inhumane treatment,” he said. "There have been threats made to our crew members...But we haven't seen any mistreatment at all.”
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