Air Force Gen. Randall Reed, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, left, fist bumps Doug Hall, the chief of legislative affairs for TRANSCOM, on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, before Reed testifies at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — The general who leads U.S. Transportation Command said Wednesday that he expects the military to continue to deport illegal migrants using military aircraft though such flights have not occurred in two days.
Air Force Gen. Randall Reed told a subpanel of the Senate Armed Services Committee that his command is ready to resume such transports if Northern Command orders them as part of a mass deportation effort by the Department of Homeland Security.
“If I get the task, I’ll absolutely fly it,” Reed said, adding he believes he is “to expect maybe more flights.”
Reed’s testimony came amid news reports that President Donald Trump’s administration is suspending the use of military aircraft to fly migrants to their home countries or Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, because it has proven expensive and inefficient.
Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns for weeks about the cost of flying C-17s and C-130s — military aircraft designed to transport troops and cargo — to move migrants to destinations such as Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras, Panama and India.
The C-17 costs an estimated $28,000 per flight hour for a single deportation compared with $8,577 per flight hour for civilian aircraft alternatives that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has typically used.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, speaks Wednesday, March 5, 2025, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with U.S. Transportation Command. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said Wednesday that the military has operated at least three deportation flights to India at a cost of more than $2.5 million each. One of them required a refueling tanker to fly from New Jersey to Hawaii only to return the next day, she said.
“The use of C-17s and C-130s to transport some 5,000 migrants at three times the cost of [Department of Homeland Security]-chartered flights, and the [Defense Department] electing to do so on a non-reimbursable basis is not only inefficient but also detracts from our core military mission,” she said.
Reed said TRANSCOM does not make the decision to use its assets for deportation flights and told Hirono that he would notify the committee if his command is asked to transport more migrants.
Reed also confirmed to Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., that Air Force personnel on deportation flights have not been wearing name tags or unit symbols. He declined to provide additional details in public and said he would brief senators on the matter in private.
Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat of the Senate Armed Services Committee, speaks Wednesday, March 5, 2025, during a committee hearing with U.S. Transportation Command. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
