Yle followed the ICE's "dark" flights

On the airport of Minneapolis, an airplane rolls to a stop on a regular Tuesday, next to smaller private planes. Rich American sports teams often fly their teams on such charter planes for game trips. This time however, no highly-ranked athletes board the plane, but rather slowly drag people into it, some slightly shaking, hands together. – Chains make movement difficult, says airplane bomber Nick Benson. He zooms in his camera and shows us how the hands and feet of those boarding the plane are shackled. See what the BBC team saw on the streets of Minneapolis: According to Benson, the BBC followed what kind of "dark" charter flights are happening in the United States. Flights can be called "dark" if they are difficult to trace, are tried to be hidden, or it is otherwise difficult to get information about their routes. Benson, as an airplane bomber, knows that charter companies sell private flights and can follow the movements of the flights, such as arrival and departure times. As a hobby, he has become a kind of human rights observer. During the year, 148 flights were made from Minneapolis carrying almost 5000 people who were arrested by ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This is according to Benson's observations. His attention has also drawn the attention of the American media. – People are taken away from their homes and families by very questionable means. There are no legal grounds for the action, and those arrested do not have due legal process. This is yet another shameful stain in our history, Benson says. A middle-aged family man drives his van to the airport parking lot every week to the exact spot from where he has a direct view of the private flights. He sets up two long-lens cameras in front of the parking garage window to record the events. Benson does not get paid for his volunteer work, but the Minnesota MN50501 citizen group pays him the airport parking fees. The videos are published on the internet on the YouTube video service. It is according to Benson a crucial source of information for the arrested relatives, as information is not necessarily obtained from the authorities. – Sometimes it is the only way for a spouse, parents, and children to see their loved one. Deportation decisions are not published, so it is possible that relatives have no information about their loved one's whereabouts. People expressed their anger towards ICE in Minneapolis in January 2026. The reason was the shooting of two American citizens. In Minnesota, it emerged at the beginning of the year that ICE had prevented thousands of detainees from meeting their legal counsel. The agency states on its website that it uses "limited detention resources" for the detention of foreigners to ensure their presence in the United States for immigration or deportation procedures. President Donald Trump promised in his election campaign to deport criminal immigrants from the country. In practice, however, it has become clear that ICE also arrests immigrants who have not committed crimes. According to an independent U.S. Trackrecords research and information agency, approximately 65,000 people were arrested in ICE custody in July, of whom 70 percent have no criminal record whatsoever. Benson believes that it is suspicious that the concealment of return flights increased in the spring of 2025. Until then, flights could be located even through the FlightRadar flight tracking website. – If the government does not want us to pay attention to this, then we should just follow it, he says. A rather new phenomenon is taking place on this ICE flight from Minneapolis. Before 28 detainees are allowed on board the plane, eight people are taken in chains. – The detainees are moved from place to place in the United States. The intention is to keep them separate from their legal representatives or to move them to a state where they do not have a lawyer. This makes everything even more difficult for the detainees, Benson says. ICE has justified the transfers of detainees by lack of space and the use of chains for security. The flight we are following managed to go through Texas and Nebraska before the plane landed in Minneapolis. See the plane's route on the map: ICE carried out a special operation called Metro Surge in the Minneapolis area from the beginning of the year. According to Nick Benson, it was also visible in the number of flights. – During the special operation, there were 2-3 ICE flights from Minneapolis every day, now 2-3 weeks. There was a dramatic time for ICE in Minneapolis. The civil society created message groups against arbitrary arrests, warning about suspicious cars in residential areas. The most famous victim of the operation in the beginning of the year is Renee Nicole Good. The 37-year-old American and mother of three died from an ICE agent's shooting. According to the Trump administration, the case was about self-defense and the legal proceedings are still ongoing. See the video from Good's memorial site: The BBC met Lynette Reini Grandell in the Minneapolis area. A Finnish-descended teacher and poet walked to a nearby school in late January, where threatening situations were seen. Reini Grandell had a warning whistle, by blowing which people could be alerted. – ICE agents had arrested the parents who brought the children to school and daycare. The school asked us to watch that all the children got home safely, she recalls. Lynette Reini Grandell saw an ICE agent shoot Good on her neighborhood street. Messages still appear in the windows of Minneapolis houses demanding ICE to leave the city. Instead of the school, ICE showed its unpleasantness on Reini Grandell's neighborhood street. She saw with her own eyes when an ICE agent shot Renee Good on her car. Reini Grandell recorded the event on her phone. She has given her video to Good's relatives' lawyer, state prosecutors, and some media, including the New York Times and the BBC. See Grandell's video of the January shooting: Reini Grandell says that no one still knows why the ICE agent shot. – From my video, it appears that nothing disturbing happened around Good's car. Something surely angered the agent, and he decided to shoot the woman. There is no sense in it, he wonders. Reini Grandell is not surprised that the authorities tried to make Good guilty after the events. – I have been a professor of English for decades and I know what propaganda is. I understand what it is about. Behind it is the desire to control the narrative and deprive people of their freedoms. Renee Good is still remembered in Minneapolis. Many people visit her memorial site every day. After Good's shooting, ICE also killed another American, Alex Pettin, in Minneapolis. There are places where locals gather to remember the murdered and what happened. James Forbes is among the volunteers who care for Renee Good's memorial. He is sometimes there for hours. Good's burial place is right in front of Forbes' front door. See the video of how Forbes opens the memorial site: As we go to Forbes, he has already managed to pick some flowers from the memorial area and burn incense. Peaceful, meditative music plays in the background. Reini Grandell and Forbes hug. The sign at the memorial reads: "I am not angry with you." These were Renee Good's last words to the ICE agent who shot her.