England Team Flies to World Cup on Trump's ICE Deportation Plane

Noman Sabit: England has chartered a plane that ICE used to enact Donald Trump’s immigration plan for the World Cup.

The World Cup is finally underway, with one of the greatest shocks in tournament history taking place on Monday as Spain drew with Cape Verde. The United States' group has already been thrown wide open after an unexpected turn of events. Thomas Tuchel’s England team will not play its first game until Wednesday, but the Three Lions’ pre-tournament buildup has already suffered several hiccups. Before their first training session since arriving in the United States, England - who are widely considered one of the tournament’s favorites - had cleats stolen from the team. The theft took place while the load was en route from West Palm Beach in Florida to England’s Swope Soccer Village base in Missouri. Robbers took training balls and other essential equipment. Star players’ boots, including those that belong to Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, were also swiped.

The England team was taken to Missouri via a charter plane on Saturday, and the plane they boarded formed part of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 'ICE Air' fleet, according to the Daily Mail. ICE has a contract with charter company GlobalX, which has used the plane that England used to transport deportees to countries including Haiti, Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.

The plane England used was even featured in the infamous video shared by President Trump that showed alleged criminals from Venezuela arriving in the Caribbean. The clip, released in March 2025, showed prisoners being dragged off the plane by heavily armed El Salvadoran authorities. The flights caused huge controversy at the time, with the planes taking off from ICE's base in Harlingen, Texas. As the plane England used returned to its home base in Miami, other GlobalX planes were flying their regular routes, including one returning from Guatemala City to Alexandria, Louisiana, where ICE operates a 400-bed staging facility for deportees. England had enjoyed a pre-tournament training camp in Florida, defeating New Zealand and Costa Rica before heading to Kansas. However, $18,000 worth of equipment was swiped from delivery vehicles, including Tuchel’s analysis equipment and whiteboards. Even the conditioning staff’s massage tables were out for delivery.

The robbery threatens to derail England’s preparations for their World Cup opener versus Croatia. Staff are desperately looking to recover or replace crucial items before their campaign gets underway.

England is among the favorites for World Cup glory and will be based in Kansas City for the tournament, although their group matches are in Dallas, Boston, and New Jersey. As a result, the English Football Association will need to continue chartering planes for the duration, with the closest venue – Dallas – over an hour's flight from the team's base.

England’s first game is a clash with Croatia — a rematch of the 2018 World Cup semifinal in Russia — at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday, June 17.

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