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The secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security reportedly authorized the acquisition of Spirit Airlines aircraft before discovering that the carrier did not truly possess the planes – and that the planes were missing power plants.

This bizarre anecdote was detailed in a investigation released on Friday, which described how the official and a former political strategist had recently arranged to purchase 10 Boeing 737 aircraft from the airline. People familiar with the situation told the paper that the pair intended to use the jets to expand deportation flights – and for personal travel.

Those sources also claimed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had warned them that buying planes would be significantly costlier than simply expanding existing flight contracts.

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Complicating matters further, the airline, which filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in August, did not possess the jets and their power plants would have had to be acquired independently. The proposal has since been paused, according to the report.

In the interim, Democratic lawmakers on the House funding panel said in the autumn that during this season's record-long federal shutdown, the Department of Homeland Security had already purchased two Gulfstream jets for $200m.

“It has come to our attention that, in the middle of a government shutdown, the United States Coast Guard signed a sole source contract with Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation to procure two new G700 luxury jets to support travel for the secretary and the deputy secretary, at a cost to the public of $200 million,” Democratic representatives wrote in a communication to the department.

A department representative told the Journal that parts of its reporting about the plane purchases were incorrect but declined to provide further details.

Congress had earlier approved the so-called “big, beautiful bill” in the summer, which dedicates roughly $170 billion for immigration and border-related operations, a sum that makes ICE the most heavily funded law enforcement agency in the US government.

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

Leaked data reviewed from charter airline GlobalX detailed the journeys of tens of thousands of individuals who have been shuttled around the nation before removal.