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A South Florida-based charter company appears to have operated the third-country U.S. deportation flight to Africa earlier this month, flight data reveals.
As first reported by Zeteo, Journey Aviation, based in Boca Raton, used a Gulfstream IV jet to send ten migrants to Eswatini on October 6. This is the second deportation flight that the Trump administration has sent to the small country in southern Africa formerly known as Swaziland. Back in July, the Department of Homeland Security sent five men from Vietnam, Laos, Jamaica, Cuba, and Yemen to Eswatini.
Aviation records show that the private jet used for the most recent flight is owned by a limited liability company affiliated with real estate developer and billionaire Michael Dezer. Dezer Development, a construction company based in Sunny Isles Beach, has partnered with Trump to develop several Trump-branded buildings in South Florida. Dezer also developed the Porsche Design Tower and is currently developing the Bentley Residences in Sunny Isles, which is scheduled to be completed in 2027.
Donald Trump has promised to carry out the “largest domestic deportation operation” in American history. As part of the president’s immigration crackdown, his administration ramped up third-country deportations, sending U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees to nations other than their countries of origin (AKA third countries), including South Sudan. Countries that have accepted noncitizens include El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, South Sudan, and Rwanda. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court permitted the Trump administration to resume third-country deportations after a federal judge in May blocked flights on the grounds that the government had not given deportees sufficient time to contest their removals.
Journey Aviation appears to have earned millions by operating deportation flights. During Trump’s first term, according to the Miami Herald, the charter company sent deportees more than 50 times to various nations around the globe, including Mauritania, Iraq, and Nepal. ICE data revealed that each flight cost $280,000. The Herald calculated that the cost of each person deported was $35,000.
Roberto Mosquera del Peral, a Cuban man who was among the five men deported to Eswatini in July, reportedly is on a hunger strike at a maximum-security prison to protest his detention. U.S.-based lawyer Alma David said his client has no access to legal counsel and has not been charged. ICE arrested the 58-year-old in Miami. The Department of Homeland Security said all of the men had been convicted of serious crimes. Their lawyers said all of the men had already finished serving their sentences.
New Times emailed Journey Aviation for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
U.S.-based immigration attorney Tin Thanh Nguyen has said that the latest group sent to Eswatini includes detainees from Cambodia, Chad, Cuba, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
