This story was originally produced by the Portsmouth Herald. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Tom Cartwright, called "the world's only credible public source on U.S. deportation flights" in a recent article in The Atlantic, confirms detainee flights have ramped up at Portsmouth International Airport at Pease since the flights were discontinued at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts in mid-July.
ICE detainees have been taken aboard planes in Portsmouth on July 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26 and 29, Cartwright said. The flight on the 29th arrived from Alexandria, Louisiana, described by USA TODAY as the nation's "top deportation hub," and was scheduled to return to Alexandria after additional stops.
The recent ICE flights at Pease are the first at the local airport since 2020, according to Cartwright.
"I would say it (Portsmouth) is a regular stop now," Cartwright said, "just like Hanscom was."
It does not appear that flights from Portsmouth take detainees out of the country, Cartwright said.
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