Hey, I Was There(2026) is an interactive web prototype of a future platform that maps deportation flights from the United States conducted under the current administration. The work is primarily informational, offering users visual access to deportation flight data — including route details, operating aviation companies, and flight classifications — drawn from a range of public and investigative resources. It is secondarily participatory: users may anonymously "tag" a flight that deported them or someone they know, repurposing the role of data metrics from extractive to community-generated.
Map Legend
🕳️ : Data Missing
Flight Type — International Removal:
Flight Type — Domestic Transfer:
Data Confidence — Medium: The artist, Maisa Imamović, cannot confirm the flight's destination city with certainty.
Data Confidence — High: The artist, Maisa Imamović, has verified the flight data as accurate.
Project Background
The artist, Maisa Imamović, began developing this project in September 2025. From the outset, locating historical deportation flight data proved exceptionally difficult, as did identifying open-source APIs — exchangeable datasets from existing flight-tracking platforms — that permit the use and redistribution of historical records. This challenge led the artist, Maisa Imamović, to Thomas Cartwright's investigative report on ICE flights, and subsequently to the Human Rights First organization, whose work she engaged through an elective course in OSINT digital investigation. Given the political sensitivity of the subject matter, the organization does not release raw flight data; however, their monthly reports have been instrumental in illuminating the scale and escalation of deportation operations, and in affirming the urgency animating this project. Alongside these primary sources, the artist, Maisa Imamović, continues to gather information through targeted media alerts and public records in mainstream press. The data currently hosted on this platform represents the initial phase of a sustained and rigorous collection effort. That data is actively compiled in the sheet via this:
(QR code) — which visitors are encouraged to photograph and contribute their own records.
Why a Prototype?
Hey, I Was There does not yet function as a social media platform, but aspires to become one. In future iterations, the artist, Maisa Imamović, aims to introduce a dedicated chat room within each flight entry, creating space for discussion, testimony, and community exchange around individual deportation events.