This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
A flight carrying immigration detainees was stranded at Portsmouth International Airport for over 12 hours Monday due to severe winter weather and a blizzard warning.
The detainees on Omni Air International 4065, which arrived in New Hampshire from Harlingen, Texas at 1 a.m. Monday, were eventually let off the plane. As of 7 p.m. Monday, they were still being held in the terminal, according to a spokesperson for Port City Air, the on-the-ground operator at the airport. The terminal is currently not open to the public, and it is unclear when the flight will take off.
Details of the incident have been difficult to confirm. A spokesperson for Portsmouth International Airport said they were not told the flight was arriving until 15 minutes before it landed.
“Had we been informed in advance of their intent to land at [Portsmouth] during the blizzard, we would have strongly advised against it and encouraged them to divert to another airport not being impacted by this severe winter storm,” the spokesperson said.
Port City Air, the on-the ground operator, said this wasn’t their decision, either. A spokesperson said their operations remain open through the storm.
“Decisions about flights into, out of, and holding at Pease are not made by Port City Air. ICE-flight decisions are made by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” according to a statement from Port City Air. “It is our legal obligation to safely service any flights into or out of the airport.“
When an NHPR reporter called Omni, the flight operator, to speak to someone, the person who answered the phone said, “We are a charter airline; we do not give out classified information” and hung up.
This incident has caught the attention of local officials and No ICE New Hampshire, a grassroots activist organization, which has been on the ground documenting deportation flights into and out of Portsmouth. Jo Jordan from the organization said the incident is an example of the agency’s “operational cruelty."
"To force a flight into a blizzard shows a complete disregard for the safety of the flight crew and airport ground staff,” Jordan said. “This is not simply a logistical error; it is a feature of ICE's inhumane mission."
ICE did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
