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The head of the United States Department of Homeland Security reportedly approved the purchase of Spirit Airline aircraft before learning that the carrier did not actually own the aircraft – and that the planes were missing power plants.

This strange anecdote was detailed in a report released on the end of the week, which described how the secretary and a former political strategist had recently arranged to purchase ten Boeing 737 planes from Spirit Airlines. Sources with knowledge informed the outlet that the pair intended to use the planes to increase removal flights – and for personal travel.

Those sources also claimed that ICE agents had warned them that buying planes would be far more expensive than simply increasing existing flight contracts.

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Complicating matters further, Spirit, which entered bankruptcy protection for the second time in the summer, did not possess the aircraft and their power plants would have had to be acquired independently. The plan has since been halted, according to the report.

In the interim, Democrats on the House funding panel said in the autumn that during this fall's historically lengthy federal shutdown, the Department of Homeland Security had already acquired two Gulfstream aircraft for $200m.

“It has come to our attention that, in the midst of a federal shutdown, the US Coast Guard entered into a single-source agreement with Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation to acquire two new G700 luxury aircraft to support travel for the secretary and the deputy secretary, at a cost to the public of $200m,” Democratic lawmakers wrote in a communication to the department.

A DHS spokesperson informed the outlet that some details in the report about the aircraft acquisitions were incorrect but declined to provide further details.

Congress had earlier authorized the termed “big, beautiful bill” in July, which allocates roughly $170 billion for immigration and border-related operations, a sum that makes ICE the most well-funded law enforcement agency in the US government.

In September, it was revealed that the administration was transporting immigrants held as part of its removal program in ways that violated their legal rights, often by plane.

Leaked data examined from private airline Global Crossing outlined the journeys of tens of thousands of immigrants who have been transported around the nation before removal.