‘No one’s here, no one knows’: north-east Ohio is ground zero for ICE flights
Away from the public eye, deportation planes at Youngstown-Warren and Akron-Canton airports carry hundreds of immigrants daily amid Trump’s ICE crackdown Just after 10.30am on a recent weekday morning, a Bombardier CRJ200 Air Wisconsin aircraft landed at Youngstown-Warren regional airport. Having made the 75-minute flight from Milwaukee, the 50-seater came to a halt and its twin engines fired down next to another…
Key points
- Youngstown-Warren and Akron-Canton airports are key hubs for ICE deportation flights.
- ICE Flight Monitor recorded about 300 such flights at the two airports this year.
- A September 28 collision at Akron-Canton involved two Eastern Air Express planes.
The Youngstown-Warren regional airport in Vienna, Ohio, and the nearby Akron-Canton regional airport have become central to the Trump administration's deportation campaign, according to a Guardian report. The small airports, which handle no commercial flights, have seen about 300 ICE-contracted flights this year, according to the advocacy group ICE Flight Monitor.
The flights carry hundreds of immigrants daily between Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Massachusetts, often to Alexandria, Louisiana, where ICE operates detention facilities. Some deportation flights have gone directly to a small airport near Tapachula, Mexico, close to the Guatemala border.
Safety concerns
On 28 September, a plane operated by Eastern Air Express struck the left horizontal stabilizer of a parked aircraft belonging to the same company at Akron-Canton regional airport. No injuries were reported and other airfield operations were not impacted, according to Lisa Dalpiaz, a representative for the airport. The Ohio state highway patrol is investigating.
In July, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $65,000 fine for Eastern Air Express for allowing 26 employees, including pilots, to perform safety-sensitive functions when they were not subject to required random drug and alcohol testing. The FAA said the process remains open. The NTSB said it is not investigating the September incident due to the absence of substantial damage or serious injuries.
They're [using these regional airports] to be more obscure, to be under the radar. Who's here? No one's here; no one knows.
— Erin Bracken-Sanchez
Local reaction
Erin Bracken-Sanchez, a military veteran from Massillon, Ohio, has been monitoring the ICE flights at Youngstown-Warren. "They're [using these regional airports] to be more obscure, to be under the radar. Who's here? No one's here; no one knows," she said. She said her motivation is her two Hispanic children.
The flights have also placed an additional cost burden on the small Ohio airports. Dalpiaz said that as of February 2026, landing fee waivers for government operations were extended to cover contractors, so no landing fees are owed to the airport.
