US spent $464m on deportation planes that remain mostly unused
Homeland Security bought 10 aircraft under a no-bid contract, citing urgency, but an internal document said it lacked staff to operate them
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Im Gegensatz zu dieser Boeing 737 Max waren sieben gebrauchte Boeing 737, die neuerdings dem US-Heimatschutzministerium gehören, schon länger nicht mehr in der Luft.
Photograph: der Standard AT (embedded from source)
What this story says
- The Department of Homeland Security spent $464 million on 10 used aircraft under a no-bid contract, citing urgency for deportation flights.
- Three of the planes are luxury business jets; seven are Boeing 737s parked in Louisiana. An internal document said the agency lacked staff to operate them.
- The contract was awarded to Daedalus Aviation Corp., whose chair donated to a political committee supporting former DHS secretary Kristi Noem.
- No right-rated outlet reported the story, according to the material supplied.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 9 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 10 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
80/100
Craft
95/100
Hype
35/100
10 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
None of the 9 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
The US Department of Homeland Security spent $464 million on a no-bid contract to purchase 10 used aircraft from Daedalus Aviation Corp., a firm based in northern Virginia. The agency said the planes were urgently needed for deportation flights. The contract was awarded last fall.
Three of the aircraft are luxury business jets. The other seven are older Boeing 737 passenger jets, which have remained parked at an airport in Lake Charles, Louisiana. An internal government document, obtained by The New York Times, said the agency lacked the staff to operate the planes. The department has barely used the fleet since acquiring it.
The chair of Daedalus Aviation Corp. donated to a political committee that supported Kristi Noem, the former secretary of Homeland Security. Noem was fired in March 2026 and replaced by Markwayne Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma. The department and Noem’s spokesperson have blamed each other for the contract.
What the reports disagree on
The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported that the contract’s value increased by $303 million on the day Mullin was sworn in as secretary. The department said the idle 737s were undergoing maintenance checks and that two would begin deportation flights later in August. The New York Times, cited by the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, reported that Democratic senators said Homeland Security officials had conceded most of the planes would not be used for deportations.
What the coverage left out
None of the digests or reports supplied mention that no right-rated outlet ran the story at all. The left-rated digests do not mention the $303 million increase in the contract’s value on the day Mullin was sworn in. The centre-rated digests do not mention the internal document stating the agency lacked staff to operate the planes.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 8 times, most recently on 15 Aug 2026, 22:45, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
US spent $464m on deportation planes that remain mostly unused
Hawaii Tribune-Herald — embedded from source
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
6 rated outlets
- The six left-rated digests led on the $464 million cost and the fact the planes have remained largely unused. der Standard, whose full report is printed below, said the aircraft were intended for "urgent deportations" and that both Noem and Mullin "do not want to be responsible" for the contract. The outlet quoted Donald Trump’s campaign promise of "the largest deportation programme in American history" and Stephen Miller’s pledge of one million deportations per year.
- der Standard also reported that the department sought to loan or lease two of the luxury jets to other agencies, including one for FBI Director Kash Patel. The outlet said the contract was part of a surge of rushed contracts awarded under urgency exemptions, which bypass regular bidding procedures. It noted that the exemption had been used for $29 billion in spending during Trump’s second term, up from less than 1% in 2024.
Centre
3 rated outlets
- The three centre-rated digests led on the $464 million no-bid contract and the fact the planes have been parked unused. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald, whose full report is printed below, said the department invoked an "unusual and compelling urgency" exemption to bypass competitive bidding. The outlet reported that the exemption had been used for $29 billion in contracts during Trump’s second term, including $220 million in media contracts tied to Noem and her allies.
- The Hawaii Tribune-Herald quoted a former acting director of ICE, John Sandweg, who said buying a fleet of aircraft would not make the top 10 list of things needed to increase deportations. The outlet also reported that the department refused to release the rationale for the no-bid contract, citing national security risks.
Right
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated right has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Read it at the source
10 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
6- Homeland Security chief drops bonkers claim to justify bloated budget (opens Daily Kos in a new tab)
- Homeland Security paid $464M for airplanes, then it parked them (opens Inquirer in a new tab)
- U.S. Government Pays 464 Million for Planes – and Then Doesn't Use Them (opens der Standard AT in a new tab)
der Standard AT — is der Standard AT biased? Our profile of this outlet
- DHS Spent Half a Billion Dollars (No Bid) on a Fleet of Jets That Now Sit Unused in Hangars (opens Jezebel in a new tab)
- DHS Spent $464 Million on Planes for 'Urgent' Deportations That Are Now Mostly Sitting Idle (opens Latin Times in a new tab)
Latin Times — is Latin Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Homeland Security paid $464 million for airplanes. Then it parked them (opens The Seattle Times in a new tab)
The Seattle Times — is The Seattle Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
3- Homeland Security paid $464 million for airplanes. Then it parked them (opens West Hawaii Today in a new tab)
West Hawaii Today — is West Hawaii Today biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Homeland Security paid $464 million for airplanes. Then it parked them. (opens Hawaii Tribune-Herald in a new tab)
Hawaii Tribune-Herald — is Hawaii Tribune-Herald biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Homeland Security Paid $464 Million for Airplanes (opens Political Wire in a new tab)
Political Wire — is Political Wire biased? Our profile of this outlet
Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
1Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover US spent $464m on deportation planes that remain mostly unused?
- Of the 9 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 67% are rated left, 33% are rated centre, 0% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 10. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is US spent $464m on deportation planes that remain mostly unused left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 9 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of US spent $464m on deportation planes that remain mostly unused biased?
- US spent $464m on deportation planes that remain mostly unused is one event reported by 10 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting US spent $464m on deportation planes that remain mostly unused?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered US spent $464m on deportation planes that remain mostly unused?
- 10 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- How much did the Department of Homeland Security spend on the planes?
- The Department of Homeland Security spent $464 million on a no-bid contract to purchase 10 used aircraft. The contract’s value increased by $303 million on the day Markwayne Mullin was sworn in as secretary, according to the Hawaii Tribune-Herald.
- Why were the planes not used after purchase?
- An internal government document, obtained by The New York Times, said the agency lacked the staff to operate the planes. The department has barely used the fleet since acquiring it, despite citing urgency for deportation flights.
- Which outlets reported on the story?
- Six left-rated outlets and three centre-rated outlets ran the story, according to the material supplied. No right-rated outlet reported it. The left emphasised the cost and lack of use; the centre focused on the no-bid contract and urgency exemption.
How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
