A Boeing jet sat on the tarmac at Salt Lake City International Airport’s general aviation area Monday as dozens of people, most of them in handcuffs and ankle restraints, were directed to walk up a staircase to board it.
A photographer for The Salt Lake Tribune saw workers in plainclothes, not labeled with the name of any agency, removing people from four white vans with U.S. government license plates. One of the women who later boarded the plane was seen wearing pajama pants and slippers.
Less than two hours after it landed in Salt Lake City, the plane took off. It went to California, then to a location in Texas that’s home to a large U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.
Spokespeople for ICE did not respond to a request from The Tribune to confirm whether the Eastern Air Express charter was one of the agency’s flights.
A spokesperson for the airport said Monday that she could not confirm whether ICE had chartered the flight because the east side of the airport, where the agency was loading passengers, is controlled by two companies who lease the area from the city’s Department of Airports. The two companies handle general aviation, according to the airport’s website, separate from the commercial aviation familiar to travelers. The Utah Air National Guard, as well as government, military and corporate aviation, are hosted on the airport’s east side.
Read Sean P. Means' full story at sltrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.