U.S. Returns Deportation Flight Carrying 92 Somalis Over ‘Logistical’ Issues

A deportation flight carrying 92 Somali citizens flew thousands of miles to Senegal earlier this week only to return to the U.S. over “logistical” issues, The New York Times reports. In a statement issued Friday, a day after the flight fiasco, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the 92 detainees made it to Senegal’s capital, Dakar, before the agency decided to abandon the trip. The flight was canceled because the flight crew was “unable to get sufficient crew rest due to issues with their hotel in Dakar,” ICE told the Times. “Various logistical options were explored, and ultimately ICE decided to reschedule the mission to Somalia and return to the United States with all 92 detainees,” the agency said. It wasn’t immediately clear when the flight would be rescheduled. “We’re inclined to think that this sort of failed flight reflects on the fact that more deportations are being carried out in haste and are perhaps not as well-planned as they might have been previously,” Kim Hunter, a lawyer whose firm represents two of the men on the flight, told the Times.