US aircraft used by the Trump administration to carry out secretive deportation operations to Africa and the Middle East have landed in Shannon Airport on 10 occasions in the last year.
The refuelling stops in Ireland occurred during five separate deportation operations, which saw the removal of at least 30 people from the US. In most cases, the deportees were deported to countries where they had no previous links.
The deportations were carried out on small private aircraft chartered by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the controversial agency leading Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
According to the Irish Department of Transport, private aircraft do not require permission to refuel at Shannon, even if they are under contract by the US government.
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The use of Shannon for deportation operations was highlighted last week in an investigation by the Guardian and the Israeli outlet +972 Magazine which found that the US had used a private luxury aircraft to deport Palestinians to the West Bank on two occasions this year.
The aircraft, a Gulfstream IV, is owned by Gil Dezer, a close friend of Trump, and had been hired by Ice from the aircraft rental company Journey.
During both operations it stopped for fuel at Shannon while flying to Israel. It also stopped at Shannon on the return journey.
On at least one of the flights, the Palestinian deportees were shackled, the Guardian reported.
According to data gathered by Ice Flight Monitor, an initiative of the US-based group Human Rights First, three other deportation operations used Shannon to refuel in 2025.
[ Use of Shannon Airport to deport Palestinians from US ‘reprehensible’Opens in new window ]
The group has been monitoring Ice deportation flights since 2020. The first Ice operation to use Shannon occurred on May 20th, 2025, five months after Trump returned to office.
A Gulfstream V, also leased from Journey, arrived in the Co Clare airport carrying eight men. It departed two hours later before landing in Djibouti the next day. It again stopped in Shannon on the way back, flight data shows.
A US judge subsequently found the men had been denied due process and that the deportation had violated a court order.
In July last year, the same aircraft was used to deport five men from El Paso in Texas, through Shannon and on to Djibouti. The men were then loaded on to a US military C-130 aircraft and flown to Estwani. None of the men had ever been in Estwani before, media reports at the time said.
In August, the aircraft was again used to fly seven people from Texas to Rwanda, stopping off at Shannon en route. The deportees, none of who were from Rwanda, according to media reports, were accepted as part of a deal between the two governments.
After coming to power, the Trump administration began deporting immigrants to third countries in cases where their home countries refuse to accept them. The controversial practice has been condemned by various human rights organisations.
[ Deportations of Irish citizens from US rose 330%, Dáil hearsOpens in new window ]
Irish Opposition politicians have described the use of Shannon for these flights as “reprehensible”, “deeply disturbing” and “outrageous”.
Labour Party foreign affairs spokesman Duncan Smith said: “It is absolutely reprehensible that any Ice deportation flights would be allowed stop and refuel in Shannon. The Taoiseach and Minister for Transport must intervene and ensure this ends ... Ireland cannot in any way be complicit in these Ice flights.”
In response to a query on the use of the airport for such flights, a Department of Transport statement noted: “Stops at Irish airports by private aircraft and commercial charters which are technical stops for non-traffic purposes (ie, not picking up or setting down passengers), do not require prior authorisation from the Department of Transport.”
