Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is pushing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to use an influx of funds to buy and operate its own fleet of airplanes to deport immigrants, two sources familiar with the discussions told NBC News.

Former officials said that ICE owning and maintaining its own planes would be costly but could make it easier for the agency to potentially double the number of people it deports each month.

With $30 billion for ICE deportation efforts from President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," Noem may have the funds to begin buying planes and staff them accordingly. In all, the bill gave ICE over $75 billion, exponentially increasing its $9.5 billion annual budget.