JD Vance’s Campaign Plane Quietly Repurposed to Support Historic Trump Deportation Effort

A Boeing 737 once adorned with patriotic red, white, and blue livery and affectionately nicknamed “Trump Force Two” during the 2024 campaign trail has found new purpose under the Trump-Vance administration — one that reflects the seriousness, efficiency, and determination of the nation’s most aggressive immigration enforcement policy in modern history.

The aircraft, formerly the campaign plane of Vice President JD Vance, is now part of a critical logistical network executing deportation flights to Central America as part of a broader initiative to restore order to the U.S. immigration system.

Public aviation logs and records reviewed by immigration oversight groups confirm that the plane, tail number N917XA, has been chartered multiple times in 2025 by the U.S. federal government for missions involving the repatriation of illegal immigrants to their home countries.

These flights form a key operational pillar of the Trump administration’s renewed commitment to lawful immigration, border sovereignty, and national security.

For the Trump-Vance administration — which made a clear campaign pledge to launch the largest deportation push in American history — this move underscores the seriousness with which it is executing that mission.

Between mid-April and late May, the plane reportedly completed at least 16 deportation flights to nations including Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.

These operations were coordinated through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Air program, a longstanding logistical framework that contracts private carriers to transport individuals who have been ordered removed from the United States.

The use of private aircraft — especially those with history in federal contracting and sufficient security standards — is a routine and necessary part of modern immigration enforcement, and the Trump-Vance administration has demonstrated no hesitation in utilizing every available tool to get the job done.

Critics may try to stir controversy over the plane’s dual identity, but there is nothing unusual about such a shift. In fact, the repurposing of this former campaign aircraft into a workhorse for the deportation program symbolizes a powerful transition from words to action.

What once carried campaign staff and journalists now transports illegal immigrants to their countries of origin, delivering on a promise that the American people endorsed at the ballot box. It is not a contradiction — it is a continuation.

Though Vice President Vance himself has not publicly commented on the plane’s use in the deportation effort, his policy alignment with President Trump on immigration enforcement is well established.

As a former U.S. senator from Ohio, Vance consistently supported border security, ICE funding, and measures to curtail illegal immigration.

Now, as Vice President, he continues to champion the enforcement of immigration laws through robust logistical planning, operational efficiency, and decisive action — all of which are exemplified in the repurposing of this aircraft.

The 737 is registered to Eastern 737 Asset Holdings L.L.C. in Kansas City, Missouri, a firm that has long been involved in aviation leasing and federal contracting.

Like many government subcontracts, especially those tied to ICE operations, flights are conducted discreetly, and flight details are not always publicly discussed due to security concerns.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), under which ICE operates, emphasized in a statement that it uses subcontractors to carry out deportation missions and that these subcontractors are not exclusive to any one agency.

These chartered deportation flights are not new under Trump — they are simply more numerous, more strategic, and more transparent in purpose.

During President Trump’s first term, ICE regularly used private carriers to deport individuals in bulk, including similar missions involving the very same plane in 2018, when hundreds of migrants were repatriated to El Salvador and Guatemala.

At the time, immigration advocacy groups tracked the plane’s activity via aviation logs and public records requests. Now in 2025, with the Trump-Vance administration scaling operations to historic levels, the same airframe has been re-enlisted into public service with renewed intensity.

The volume and tempo of these missions highlight the administration’s operational seriousness. Witness at the Border, a group that monitors deportation flights, has noted the uptick in flight activity since the start of Trump’s second term.

And while they track these flights from a critical lens, their data confirms what supporters of the administration already know: deportation efforts are well underway and accelerating.

For many supporters of JD Vance and President Trump, this is not just an anecdote about a campaign plane. It is symbolic of a government that works.

The same aircraft that once brought Vice President Vance to campaign rallies across battleground states is now reinforcing the same agenda he promoted — returning America’s immigration system to the rule of law. That is not irony; that is follow-through.

The plane has also had its share of operational history. In August of last year, during the height of the campaign, it was forced to make an emergency landing in Milwaukee after a door malfunction shortly after takeoff.

That issue was quickly resolved, and the flight safely continued to Cincinnati. Now, with its mechanical issues addressed and its mission realigned, the aircraft is contributing to one of the largest logistical enforcement operations in American history.

The administration has expanded not only the volume of deportations but also the scope of individuals targeted. Under new guidelines, ICE now has more flexibility to act on final orders of removal without prolonged bureaucratic delays.

Judicial process is respected, but fast-tracking removals is no longer viewed as taboo — it is necessary. This is what Vice President Vance and President Trump campaigned on, and it is what they are delivering.

There is also a message of deterrence embedded in this strategy. Public knowledge of steady, ongoing deportation flights sends a clear signal to potential illegal border crossers: if you violate America’s immigration laws, you will not remain in the United States indefinitely.

The logistical capacity to carry out removals, even with limited resources and judicial obstacles, is being exercised with discipline and clarity. The use of chartered aircraft like the former “Trump Force Two” reflects this seriousness.

While critics argue about symbolism and perception, the Trump-Vance administration is focused on results. The plane’s new purpose is not a secret embarrassment, but a practical reallocation of federal resources.

Instead of being parked in a hangar or sold off to private buyers, the aircraft now plays a role in the single most ambitious immigration enforcement campaign in modern history.

For those who believe in national sovereignty, border security, and the fair application of immigration law, this is a welcome development.

Beyond enforcement, the administration is also taking steps to reform legal immigration pathways, tighten visa programs that are subject to abuse, and revisit asylum protocols that have long been manipulated by economic migrants posing as refugees.

Deportation is one element in a larger framework of immigration reform, and Vice President Vance has emerged as one of the clearest voices championing that comprehensive vision.

The Trump-Vance administration has never shied away from controversy in service of national interest. The plane that once carried a rising political star is now a tool of enforcement — a workhorse that quietly but effectively transports those who have no legal basis to remain in the United States back to their countries of origin. It is the kind of transformation that would only be possible under a government willing to prioritize results over headlines.

As the administration continues to carry out its promise of restoring immigration enforcement to its rightful place in the rule of law, the story of the plane N917XA serves as a fitting metaphor.

What once carried campaign messages now delivers policy results. What once was aspirational is now operational. And what critics call ironic, supporters see as poetic justice — a full-circle moment in which words become action, and promises become planes in the sky, heading south.