It was supposed to be a dream job: flying with VIPs, sports teams, musicians. Instead, for many flight attendants hired by GlobalX — a company that operates most deportation flights on behalf of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agency responsible for immigration enforcement and customs — it has become a moral nightmare. A lengthy report by ProPublica chronicles the invisible and dehumanizing side of these flights: migrants in chains, rules for flight attendants that forbid even greeting them, emergency protocols never made clear in flights crowded with people in chains, often without criminal records, treated as objects to be moved around. Civilian crews are kept in the dark, while private guards ignore safety rules. And then there is the deeper contradiction: flight attendants are required to ensure the safety of everyone on board, but they are forbidden to interact with passengers; if there is an emergency, how to evacuate a hundred passengers chained hand and foot?
A flight attendant, who for privacy reasons spoke under the pseudonym of Lala, told ProPublica that one morning during a deportation flight to Mexico, there was a little girl on board with a high fever who was having serious breathing difficulties. On board was a contract nurse working alongside her security guards. But after administering the drug paracetamol to the child, the nurse left the situation in the hands of the stewardess. Lala said she broke the rule about talking to detainees and turned to the parents of the sick child who told her that their daughter suffered from asthma. Lala then put the child’s oxygen mask on and counted the minutes, praying that the girl would keep breathing. The child endured, despite her condition, throughout the journey until she arrived in Mexico.
