Society · Immigration · October 14, 2026

Ohio’s ICE Deportation Flights Run Through Two Small Airports. The Unpaid Landing Fees Show the Scale.

Federal deportation flights are a national system, and in Ohio they land at two regional airports in the northeast of the state. At Akron-Canton Airport, charter carriers have an unpaid bill of $46,513 for 148 landings since late April, according to airport invoices reported by WYSU.

Federal agencies have not published flight or contract totals, so the public record is built from invoices, flight trackers, and local reporting. This page lays out what that record shows, and what it does not.

$46,513 — owed in landing fees for 148 landings at Akron-Canton since late April; $33,927 of it past due · Source: airport invoices, via WYSU
202 planes — counted at Youngstown-Warren over six months, seventh most nationally · Source: Witness at the Border, via News 5 Cleveland
$125 a day — what Mahoning County's jail is paid per ICE detainee, about $4.5 million a year by the sheriff's estimate · Source: Ohio Capital Journal
~4% — of Akron-Canton's $1.1 million in 2025 landing-fee revenue that the unpaid bill represents · Source: WYSU

§ 01 / Two Airports, One Pipeline

Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport was the first hub. Witness at the Border, a flight-tracking project, counted 202 ICE planes there over six months, seventh most among U.S. airports, according to Ohio Capital Journal reporting carried by News 5 Cleveland. When Youngstown’s runway was shortened for construction, flights moved to Akron-Canton in late April, per WYSU and WKYC; WYSU reports the runway work finished in late August.

The carriers at Akron-Canton are charter operators: Eastern Air Express, Global X, and Air Wisconsin, per the invoices. Eastern accounts for most of the bill, $41,900, flying Boeing 737s. The usual route runs to Alexandria, Louisiana, with occasional direct flights to Tapachula, Mexico, WYSU reported. Nationally, advocates tracked 1,214 deportation-related flights in July, about 80% of them flown by Eastern, Global X, and Avelo, according to an Associated Press figure cited by Hoodline.

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§ 02 / Who Pays, and Who Can Say No

The unpaid fees are small next to the airport’s landing-fee revenue, about 4% of its 2025 total. The carrier amounts WYSU lists sum to $45,478, about $1,035 short of the stated total, and counts differ within the same report: 148 billed landings and 167 cumulative landings through Sept. 17. Treat any single count as an estimate.

Cartoon satire: in an empty rainy-night terminal, a blank departures board hangs above a lone rolling suitcase and a clipboard resting on a plastic chair, while a plain jet taxis outside the window — The departures board, as a cartoonist sees it: blank. Federal agencies have not published totals for these flights.

The airport’s position is that it cannot easily turn the planes away: Hoodline reports Akron-Canton cites FAA grant assurances as limiting its ability to refuse flights. At Youngstown, Western Reserve Port Authority spokesman Andrew Resnick told News 5 Cleveland the port is the commercial sponsor and that the planes are there under a federal lease with a fixed-base operator.

§ 03 / Jails, Springfield, and the Politics

The flights are one end of a chain that starts in county jails. Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene (R), who switched from Democrat last year, says he called ICE in Cleveland after the election and offered bed space, per Ohio Capital Journal. His jail holds about 100 ICE detainees at $125 per person per day, which he estimated at about $4.5 million a year. The privately run Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, operated by CoreCivic, reportedly holds about 400; CoreCivic referred questions to ICE, per News 5.

Springfield is home to roughly 15,000 Haitians, per Hoodline, and ICE arrests there followed the expiration of Haitian temporary protected status, per WYSU. The Washington Examiner reported ICE planned operations in Haitian communities as TPS expires. WYSU, citing the Springfield Sun-News, reported that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said 380 people were arrested in Springfield, and that a nationwide total of 50,925 arrests was announced for August. Springfield Police Chief Allison Elliott said: “We also do not have a 287(g) agreement with ICE, nor are we pursuing one at this time.” Governor Mike DeWine (R-OH) said his team has not heard of any potential enforcement surges, per Ohio Capital Journal.

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§ 04 / What Is Not Public

DHS has not released flight or contract data for these routes, per WYSU. The Ohio Immigrant Alliance reported 7,756 detentions in Ohio from January 2025 through March 2026; DHS disputed the data, per Spectrum News. And while the Youngstown ranking is documented, we found no national ranking that makes Ohio the single largest hub, so we do not claim one.

What We Do Not Know

How many people have been removed on these flights, and what the flights cost federally.

Whether Akron-Canton or Youngstown ranks first among U.S. airports for deportation flights.

When the unpaid landing fees will be paid.

“We also do not have a 287(g) agreement with ICE, nor are we pursuing one at this time.”
Springfield Police Chief Allison Elliott, via WYSU, Aug. 20, 2026

The bottom line: the Ohio flight pipeline is real and documented, even though the federal numbers are not public. The best public evidence is an unpaid airport bill, a flight tracker, and a sheriff’s contract. We will update this page when DHS, the airport, or the carriers release figures.