A luxury Boeing aircraft fitted with a queen-sized bedroom, showers, a bar and four large flat-screen TVs is at the centre of a $70 million purchase request by the Department of Homeland Security, which says the plane will serve a dual purpose — flying senior Trump administration officials to engagements and carrying out immigration deportation flights.
Images of the Boeing 737-8 Max, obtained by NBC News, show an interior more closely resembling a private executive jet than a government transport aircraft. Marketing materials for the plane list maximum capacity at 18 passengers, with sleeping space for 14.
That capacity has raised immediate questions inside the department itself. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flights typically carry more than 100 shackled detainees at a time, alongside guards, medical personnel and flight crew. One DHS official, speaking anonymously to NBC, described the plan to alternate the aircraft between ferrying senior officials and deporting immigration detainees as “far-fetched.”
A DHS spokesperson defended the purchase in a statement to NBC, saying at least one bedroom was already being converted into seating to prepare the aircraft for deportation use, pending approval of the $70 million funding request by the Office of Management and Budget. The spokesperson said the plane flies at 40% lower cost than military aircraft currently used by ICE for deportation missions, framing the purchase as part of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s efforts to reduce government inefficiencies and save taxpayer money.
The claim sits uncomfortably alongside Noem’s recent record on government spending. In October she was censured by House Democrats following reports that $200 million in taxpayer funds had been spent during the government shutdown on two private Gulfstream jets for her own use and that of deputy DHS secretary Troy Edgar.
The $70 million request still requires White House approval through the OMB before any purchase can proceed. DHS did not respond to a separate request for comment.
