Thread: SC-Jets fly aliens home

Jets fly aliens home
U.S. government runs an airline for inmates, illegal immigrants
By Tim Smith • CAPITAL BUREAU • August 17, 2008

Its flights go to more than 40 U.S. and international cities.


Hundreds of thousands have flown on its jets since 1995, which come with meal service. And in thousands of flights since 2000, there have been only two accidents, with no passenger injuries.

But you can't buy a ticket.

The only passengers on the sleek, white jets are prisoners or illegal immigrants going home.

The airline -- run by the federal government -- is one of the ways illegal immigrants caught in South Carolina are returned to their homelands.

With a push to deport more illegal immigrants, the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System airline, which Hollywood moviemakers made famous in the 1997 film "Con Air," expects to be busy for years to come.

A record 276,912 illegals were removed from the United States in fiscal year 2007, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Officials estimate passengers aboard JPATS flights will swell to 267,000 this year, up from 162,000 in 2002.

"It's the most safe, cost-effective way to move inmates and illegal immigrants throughout the United States," said Dorothy Zinnert, chief of scheduling for JPATS.

The airline was formed in 1995, a merger between the air and transport services of the U.S. Marshal's Service and ICE. It now ranks as one of the largest transporters of prisoners in the world, handling more than 1,000 flight requests each day. And it remains the only government operated, regularly scheduled airline in the nation, officials say.

In addition to flying thousands of illegal immigrants, the airline also moves federal inmates between prisons or courts and contracts with state and local law enforcement agencies to bring back prisoners or fugitives.

While Hollywood may have made the name Con Air famous, Zinnert said the label was around for years before that.

"We're the real Con Air," she said.

ICE leases four McDonnell Douglas-83 passenger jets through JPATS to move passengers, said Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the agency's southern regional office. The agency also owns three smaller planes.

The cost to fly an illegal from South Carolina to Mexico can range from $600 to $700, she said.

The JPATS system costs about $159 million annually to operate, federal records show. That pays for a variety of cars, vans, buses, aircraft, personnel, detention center beds and other expenses.

Officials say the JPATS system operates far cheaper than using commercial airlines and with greater security and safety. There has never been an escape from any of its flights, officials said, and only a handful of "incidents" and staff injuries.

Zinnert said their's never been a serious crash. The most recent incident was a problem in the landing gear while arriving in Chicago that caused the plane to be evacuated.

While some South Carolinians might expect an illegal immigrant to be quickly deported, each is granted a hearing and the process can take months or years. When an immigrant is ordered out of the country, Gonzalez said, ground transportation takes him to a detention center or contracted local facility near the airport where they will be picked up.

JPATS operates its flights out of Oklahoma City, Okla., with hubs in Alexandria, La.; Mesa, Ariz.; Anchorage, Alaska; York, Pa.; and the Virgin Islands, officials said. It's planes, however, travel to airports throughout the country.

The inmates or immigrants get on and off planes away from an airport's public terminals for greater security, Zinnert said.

Deportees wear civilian clothes and get to bring one checked bag home, weighing no more than 44 pounds, Gonzalez said.

They are restrained while on the flight, she said, and escorted by security personnel "for their safety, the safety of other detainees, law enforcement officers, and aircrews."

The government provides the deportees with food while on board, Zinnert said.

"It's not like a full meal," she said. "It might be a sandwich, cheese and crackers."

They also get water and fruit, though nothing messy or fruit that requires a knife or fork to peel, she said.

Each flight also comes with a nurse, to watch over inmates or immigrants with medical conditions. On at least one occasion, she said, a plane has had to land quickly because of a heart attack.

Each deportee is escorted down the stairs once they arrive in their home country. Once off the plane, Gonzalez said, they are met by their nation's federal immigration officers.

Not all deported illegal immigrants, however, return home aboard the JPATS airline.

Gonzalez said about 23,000 were placed aboard commercial flights in the last fiscal year

"Deportees are sent on commercial flights when JPATS flights are not available or when the deportee does not meet JPATS criteria to fly on JPATS aircraft," she said.

Federal escorts are sometimes assigned, she said, based on the deportee's physical, criminal and psychological background.

Although the JPATS air service has been nicknamed Con Air, Zinnert said there is no resemblance to the air service in the movie, which uses a military cargo plane.

"It's a regular aircraft like you and I fly," she said. "Other than the fact that it doesn't have a name. We don't advertise who we are on the aircraft."



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http://www.alipac.us/article3461.html

THE MAJORITY OF THESE PEOPLE WALKED ACROSS THE BORDER TO GET HERE,SO WHY NOT LET THEM WALK BACK ACROSS. THESE PEOPLE ARE REALLY GIVEN THE KID GLOVE TREATMENT AT THE EXPENSE OF THE AMERICAN CITIZENS AND ITS NOT RIGHT. THIS WHOLE THING WITH THESE ILLEGALS JUST MAKE ME SICK.

I might not have a problem with this if our borders were secured and we could ensure these same "world travelers" would not show up on US soil again, only to get another free flight back to their countries of orgin!

I wonder how many of these travelers are frequent fliers on JPATS flights...

I was thinking the same thing NoBueno....they are probably getting a free ticket to take a nice vacation and visit family, then they just trek it across the border again.

Originally Posted by NoBueno

I might not have a problem with this if our borders were secured and we could ensure these same "world travelers" would not show up on US soil again, only to get another free flight back to their countries of orgin!

I wonder how many of these travelers are frequent fliers on JPATS flights...

My first post..Let me preface by saying I'm a 4th gen. Texan who has seen it all. I have long thought/knew the millions crossing the border were not 'swimming the river' nor 'crossing the desert', the majority come on greyhound type tourist buses on fraudulant "tourist/traveler" visas our gov. must give away to all takers. In my daily commute along I-35 in central texas there are/have been thousands daily with names like "mexico turismo" sp. etc., I always wondered why there were so many mexican nationals on vacation from "Laredo-to Chicago", what a vacation destination!! There are actually 'safe stops' along the way, often shanty mexican restaurants where the english language is not known and most americans would feel like they were in mexico. I have gone into a few of these to watch these buses stop and the notion that any of these people are tourists is laughable...whats more laughable is they get free airfare home!!!

At $600-700 a seat I bet they have very comfortable seats with meals and a movie to watch on their way home. IMO, I bet they treat it like a vacation but then turn right around and come back in illegally.

EXACTLY

BUSES ARE SO UNSAFE

WHY?

Originally Posted by Tex-ico

Originally Posted by NoBueno

I might not have a problem with this if our borders were secured and we could ensure these same "world travelers" would not show up on US soil again, only to get another free flight back to their countries of orgin!

I wonder how many of these travelers are frequent fliers on JPATS flights...

My first post..Let me preface by saying I'm a 4th gen. Texan who has seen it all. I have long thought/knew the millions crossing the border were not 'swimming the river' nor 'crossing the desert', the majority come on greyhound type tourist buses on fraudulant "tourist/traveler" visas our gov. must give away to all takers. In my daily commute along I-35 in central texas there are/have been thousands daily with names like "mexico turismo" sp. etc., I always wondered why there were so many mexican nationals on vacation from "Laredo-to Chicago", what a vacation destination!! There are actually 'safe stops' along the way, often shanty mexican restaurants where the english language is not known and most americans would feel like they were in mexico. I have gone into a few of these to watch these buses stop and the notion that any of these people are tourists is laughable...whats more laughable is they get free airfare home!!!

Welcome to Alipac Tex_ico

Welcome Tex-ico!

It's always interesting to hear of people's experiences.