Since at least June 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard has diverted a significant portion of its C-27J Spartan fleet from search-and-rescue and maritime missions to transporting ICE detainees. This represents a novel use of military assets for immigration enforcement that operates outside the normal ICE Air charter contract structure.

Scale of Operations

• At least 324 Coast Guard flights diverted to immigration enforcement in 2025
• At least 263 flights by C-27J Spartans are likely ICE operations since June 23, 2025
• The majority of the Coast Guard C-27J Spartan fleet’s flights are now for ICE
• Human Rights First documented at least 61 Coast Guard flights in September 2025 alone
• 88 total removal flights on U.S. military planes (Air Force) since January 2025

How It Works

The Coast Guard serves as a feeder system for Air Force deportation flights:

1. Coast Guard C-130 Hercules and C-27J Spartan aircraft shuttle detainees regionally
2. Detainees are taken to “expulsion hubs” – typically Alexandria, LA; Harlingen, TX; or Florida
3. At the hubs, they are transferred to Air Force C-17 and C-130 cargo aircraft for international removal flights

Documented Routes

• Baltimore: Shackled immigrants loaded onto Coast Guard aircraft on August 13 and August 22, 2025
• Colorado to Texas/California: Coast Guard transported ICE detainees from Colorado for deportation
• California, Texas, Washington state: C-130 flights spanning multiple states in a two-week period

Conditions

Detainees are shackled during Coast Guard flights. Coast Guard veterans have publicly condemned the use of CG aircraft for immigration enforcement, with Veterans for Peace issuing a formal statement of opposition in September 2025.

Legal and Policy Questions

• There is no publicly disclosed formal interagency agreement authorizing this use of Coast Guard assets
• The diversion of search-and-rescue aircraft to immigration enforcement raises questions about Coast Guard readiness for its primary mission
• Unlike ICE Air charter flights, military transport flights have less oversight and transparency

Sources

• Rolling Stone: Trump’s ICE Is Now Using Coast Guard Planes to Move Immigrants
• Human Rights First: ICE Flight Monitor September 2025
• Stars and Stripes: Coast Guard’s role in deportation flights (Feb 2025)
• 9News: Coast Guard transports ICE detainees from Colorado
• Veterans for Peace: Coast Guard Veterans Condemn CG Transport Flights (Sep 2025)