Advocates demand Wayne County Airport Authority halt ICE flights out of Willow Run airport

BY KATHERINE DAILEY, MICHIGAN ADVANCE

MICHIGAN—Activists called on airport officials to halt the flights by ICE out of Willow Run Airport near Ypsilanti during the public comment period of the Wayne County Airport Authority board meeting on Wednesday.

According to the ICE Flight Monitor, a project by the organization Human Rights First, ICE used Willow Run as a stop for flights, usually to major immigration detention hubs in the South, regularly throughout the second half of 2025.

Steve Conn, an activist with the Detroit Committee to Stop ICE, called the airport “a key link in the chain, down to Texas or Louisiana overnight” during the public board meeting.

Chad Newton, the Chief Executive Officer of the Wayne County Airport Authority, said in his report to the board during the meeting that he is often asked if the airport authority has any contracts with ICE.

“Our response remains, the Wayne County Airport Authority does not have any involvement in the agreements between airlines and their partners, including federal agencies, as long as those agreements meet legal and safety requirements,” he said.

But many present did not find Newton’s argument about the authority’s lack of responsibility convincing, arguing that no activity takes place at an airport without approval and urging those in attendance to use their power to stop such activity and make it more difficult for it to continue.

George Washington, a lawyer in the Detroit area, similarly said that, while the board may not have made the decision to initially permit ICE to use the airport, they should be acting on it now.

“We know that this board did not set up that system that was set up by the Trump administration, but we know also that by allowing Willow Run to do this, you’re collaborating with this system,” he said. “You’re collaborating because you said nothing about it, because even till this day, you will not condemn it. You will simply say it’s not our problem.”

Washington also criticized the board for not mentioning the usage of the airport by ICE during the main portion of the meeting, a significant portion of which focused on upgrades to restrooms in the McNamara terminal.

Airlines conducting ICE flights out of Willow Run include Colorado-based Key Lime Air, as well as Eastern Air Express. Photos shared with Michigan Advance by the Detroit Committee to Stop ICE, showed people with shackled wrists boarding a plane at Willow Run. Additionally, online records from the Federal Aviation Administration show that the tail number on one of the aircraft seen in the pictures matched up with a plane operated by Eastern Air Express.

A report by Human Rights First said there were 88 outbound ICE flights from Willow Run in 2025. According to the Detroit Committee to Stop ICE, the planes then usually flew “from Ypsilanti to major immigration detention hubs in the South, such as Alexandria, Louisiana,” where ICE maintains a deportation staging facility operated by the GEO Group. That’s the same corporation which operates the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan, ICE’s largest detention facility in the Midwest.

Jessi Hanson-DeFusco, an assistant professor of public policy at Lawrence Technological University, also shared the potential risks for airports like Willow Run that are being used by ICE.

“Anyone who comes through one of our airports who has damages, suffers personal injuries, property damage, or was wrongfully detained, or has medical malpractice, will legally be able to sue any partners or entities, including counties like Wayne County for having taken part in that,” she said. “Are you sure, out of the thousands of people who have come through our airports, that each individual has received due process and was detained legally, lawfully and ethically?”

Conn also urged the broader Wayne County community to protest the use of the airport by ICE, adding that he urged airport employees to shut the airport down if needed.

“You must act. You must do everything you can, and you can do so much,” he said. “When this is such an injustice and so critical to the future of our country, we must take action. We must do everything we can.”

“This is a threat to you and you and me, every single person here,” he said.

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This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.