Some Trump administration officials will be able to use a $70 million luxury plane that former homeland security secretary Kristi L. Noem said was being acquired for deportations.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement bought the plane for $70 million before the new DHS secretary, Markwayne Mullin, was confirmed last month.
“This aircraft will be available to Cabinet members who need secure command and control and rapid long-range mobility,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson did not respond to questions about who will approve use of the plane and exactly who will be able to fly on it. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the arrangement, said that White House officials — not DHS officials — will approve use of the plane and that first lady Melania Trump will be among those close to President Donald Trump to have access to it.
The White House referred questions about the plane to DHS on Wednesday.
The aircraft is a Boeing 737 Max 8 that ICE officials originally leased and sought to buy to carry out Trump’s mass deportation agenda, according to Noem. Images of the plane obtained by NBC News in February showed a sleekly decorated interior with a queen bed, a kitchenette, several flat-screen TVs and cream-colored leather seats throughout.
During a congressional oversight hearing last month, Noem defended her use of private planes, including of the Boeing, which she said she had flown on only once. When Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) displayed photos of the Boeing’s interiors, including of a bedroom with a queen bed, Noem denied recognizing it and said the plane was being refurbished to remove the bedroom.
“It’s mandated from Congress … that we need to have a long-range command and control aircraft that will seat up to 17 people in the Department of Homeland Security for national security purposes. We are complying with the law,” Noem said then, referring to the One Big Beautiful Bill in 2025 that appropriated money for DHS to purchase aircraft.
Noem also insisted the purchase of the luxury jet would save taxpayers “hundreds of millions of dollars” and that it would be used by other administration officials.
She was ousted last month amid criticism of her leadership of the department and her handling of the administration’s mass deportation efforts. Noem, the former governor of South Dakota, also came under scrutiny for how she spent DHS money, including on a $200 million contract for ads that featured Noem on horseback at Mount Rushmore. The Washington Post reported in October that the Coast Guard planned to spend $200 million to buy two Gulfstream G700 private jets to be used by Noem and other top DHS and Coast Guard officials.
Those planes were separate from the Boeing jet being kept for use by White House officials.
Noem now holds a newly created role as “special envoy for the Shield of the Americas.”
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