A shout of “They’re separating him from his family” rang out as a protester prevented the deportation of a violent gang rapist in the United Kingdom this month. The other passengers applauded the gang rapist, not knowing the context, as law enforcement escorted him off the flight.
Sudden outbursts and targeted rage are becoming the standard tactic of what I call “pop-up protesters” when they witness any legal deportations, even deportations of a convicted gang rapist.
This happened in Sweden this past July when a disruptive passenger stood up and said, “All I want to do is stop the deportation, and then I will comply with the rules here.” A judge had ordered this convicted felon Afghan passenger deported after he beat his wife and daughter, served nine months in jail for it, and had his asylum application refused. The protester later admitted she knew nothing about the Afghan deportee. The protest did nothing to stop the aggravated felon from being deported on another flight.
In the United States, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement deports hundreds of thousands of aliens on chartered flights, but they still need to use regular international commercial flights.
Per ICE, they use such factors as the alien’s “country of citizenship, criminal status, and family status will influence whether they travel commercially or by charter aircraft.” If an alien is being deported by ICE on a commercial flight, they have exhausted all legal remedies to remain in the United States.
Thousands of times a year, on commercial flights, aliens ordered removed by an immigration Judge are deported by ICE without incident. With the “abolish ICE” movement gaining momentum since its inception this past summer, you can almost guarantee these airline deportations will be protested.
What happens if these pop-up protests occur mid-flight and the ICE officer is accosted by protesting passengers? Now you have a potentially catastrophic violent encounter happening at 20,000 feet in the air between passengers, officers, flight crews, and the alien that is being legally deported.
Want to effect change? Vote in a couple weeks to elect officials that will pass immigration reform. Want to protest? Do it peacefully, and on the ground.
Dr. Jason Piccolo is a former supervisor with the Department of Homeland Security, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and a nationally recognized whistleblower for the 2015 release of Unaccompanied Alien Children to criminal sponsors.Twitter: @DRJasonPiccolo
