Deportees Pass Through MSP Without Knowing Final Destinations

(MINNEAPOLIS, MN) More than a dozen people in U.S. immigration custody were placed on a predawn deportation flight out of Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, or MSP, on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, many of them shackled and unsure where they were going until the very last moment. Several of the ICE detainees later described the same haunting line: “We had no idea where we were going,” capturing the mix of fear, confusion, and total lack of control that now surrounds many removal flights under the current administration.

The November 12 operation: how it played out

Detainees were moved from local jails and holding centers around Minnesota and brought to MSP under tight security.
They arrived already wearing restraints — shackles at the ankles, wrists, and waist — which made it hard to walk, sit, or even use the bathroom without help.

Some people said they were woken in the early hours and only then told they were leaving the country. Others said they did not learn the final destination until they were already on board and the plane doors were closing. The experience was described repeatedly by those affected:

“We had no idea where we were going.”

A pattern, not an isolated incident

This Minnesota flight is part of a larger national pattern in which the federal government has quietly stepped up deportation flights while sharing less information about them. Under the current administration, advocates say removal operations have become more secretive — not only for families but even for the people being expelled.

• ICE detainees often spend weeks or months in county jails or immigration detention centers.
• They are sometimes suddenly told to pack up with very little advance notice.
• MSP has become the last piece of U.S. ground for people sent to countries across Central America, Latin America, or the Caribbean.

Destinations commonly reported from MSP

Secrecy that extends beyond the plane

People familiar with the Minnesota removals say the lack of clear information can be just as painful as the flight itself. One detainee said officers moved him from a county jail to another holding facility and then straight to MSP, all in less than a day, without ever saying exactly where he would land.

Others tried to guess their fate from uniforms, snippets of language overheard, or fragments of instruction shouted in English — a language many did not fully understand.

Advocates, lawyers, and family members also say it has become harder to track when a deportation flight is leaving MSP and which countries it is headed to:

• Airlines and ICE have changed call signs and obscured flight details.
• Public tracking tools that once offered clues are now less useful.
• Analysis by VisaVerge.com suggests similar hidden scheduling has been reported at airports across the United States, but the accounts from MSP have resonated strongly in Minnesota — a state known for presenting itself as welcoming to newcomers and refugees.

How people enter the system and what happens next

Immigration arrests in Minnesota can begin in several ways:

1. A tip to federal authorities.
2. A traffic stop that triggers a records check.
3. A referral after someone is booked into a local jail.

Once ICE detainees enter the system:

• They may be held in county jails under federal contracts.
• In some cases, they may be monitored through GPS trackers while their immigration cases proceed.
• If an immigration judge issues a final removal order, or if someone stops fighting their case, the next step can be sudden — officers may arrive with little or no warning and, within hours, the person can be on a van headed toward MSP, leaving jobs, homes, and families behind.

Human and legal consequences

The November 12 operation highlights how sharply this process can collide with basic ideas of fairness and family unity. Human rights groups in Minnesota argue that people should at least know where they are being taken so they can prepare mentally and arrange support on the receiving end.

• Some deportees are returned to countries they left as children and barely remember, with no close relatives waiting.
• Others are sent to places where violence, poverty, or political instability persist, even as the U.S. reaches agreements with those governments to accept more deportation flights in exchange for diplomatic or financial benefits.

Lawyers note that secrecy also undermines legal rights:

• Last-minute notices can prevent detainees from reaching counsel to file emergency motions or appeals.
• Families in Minnesota or elsewhere can wake to find a loved one has disappeared from the jail system.
• Days later, a rushed pay-phone call from El Salvador or Honduras may reveal the person has already been expelled.

Local advocates have called on federal officials and airport authorities to increase transparency about these operations.

Federal position and available official information

The federal government frames deportation flights as a core element of enforcing immigration law, noting that people with final removal orders must leave the country. Official information about how removals work is available from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on its ICE removal operations page.

However, for people on the plane, the critical issues are:

• Being moved like cargo with no clear explanation of route or schedule.
• Not knowing where their journey will end or when their last day in the United States truly is.

The broader significance for Minnesota

The testimonies from MSP in November 2025 are part of a growing national record of deportees who echo the same painful sentence: “We had no idea where we were going.” For Minnesota’s immigrant communities, those words reverberate whenever an unmarked van arrives at a county jail or a quiet corner of the airport.

The central question facing the state now is whether MSP will remain just another silent stop in a hidden national system, or whether the outcry over secretive removals will lead authorities to at least disclose where people are being sent and when.