Deportation in the second presidency of Donald Trump
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President Donald Trump has continued the process of deporting immigrants in the United States after assuming office for a second term.[12] The administration's policy has been characterized as a mass deportation campaign, affecting millions of immigrants and asylum seekers through widespread detentions, confinements, and expulsions.[13]
ICE agents detaining a man on January 26, 2025 | |
| Date | January 23, 2025 – present |
|---|---|
| Location | United States |
| Target | Individuals or immigrants residing in the U.S. |
| Participants | |
| Outcome | |
On January 23, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began to carry out raids on sanctuary cities, with hundreds of immigrants detained and deported. The Trump administration reversed previous policy and gave ICE permission to raid schools, hospitals and places of worship.[14][15] The use of deportation flights by the U.S. has created pushback from some foreign governments, particularly Colombia.[16] The administration targeted activists, legal immigrants, tourists, and students with green cards who expressed criticism of his policies or engaged in pro-Palestinian advocacy.[17]
Fears of ICE raids have impacted agriculture,[14] construction,[18] and the hospitality industry.[19] The Pew Research Center estimated the total population of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. to be 11 million in 2022.[20]
The Trump administration ordered the re-opening of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to hold potentially tens of thousands of immigrants,[21][22] but has faced logistical and legal difficulties using it as a immigrant camp.[23] 178 Venezuelan immigrants were held there in February.[24] As of March 13, 2025, no immigrants are held in the camp.[25]
Trump had discussed mass deportations during his presidential campaign in 2016,[26][27] during his first presidency, and in his 2024 campaign.[28][29] At the time of his first campaign, approximately one-third of Americans supported the idea – but by the start of his second term, eight years later, public opinion had undergone a shift, with a majority of Americans believing all illegal immigrants should be deported.[30]
Background
Summarize
Perspective
2016 campaign
In August 2015, during his 2016 campaign, Trump proposed the mass deportation of illegal immigrants as a part of his immigration policy.[26][27][31] During his first town hall campaign meeting in Derry, New Hampshire, Trump said that if he were to win the election, then on "day 1 of my presidency, they're getting out and getting out fast."[32]
Trump proposed a "Deportation Force" to carry out this plan, modeled after the 1950s-era "Operation Wetback" program during the Dwight Eisenhower administration that ended following a congressional investigation.[27][31][33]
In June 2016, Trump stated on Twitter that "I have never liked the media term 'mass deportation' – but we must enforce the laws of the land!"[34][35] Later in June, Trump stated that he would not characterize his immigration policies as including "mass deportations".[36] However, on August 31, 2016, contrary to earlier reports of a "softening" in his stance,[37][38] Trump laid out a 10-step plan reaffirming his positions. He reiterated that "anyone who has entered the United States illegally is subject to deportation", with priority given to those who have committed significant crimes and those who have overstayed visas. He noted that all those seeking legalization would have to go home and re-enter the country legally.[39]
First presidency (2017–2021)
During Donald Trump's first presidency, the total number of illegal immigrants deported decreased when compared to Obama's first term.[40] ICE conducted hundreds of raids in workspaces and sent removal orders to families. In the first three years of their presidencies the Obama administration deported approximately 1.18 million people, while the Trump administration deported less, approximately 800,000 people.
In 2020, the final year of Trump's first term, an additional ~179,000 deportations occurred as of August 2020. The Migration Policy Institute reported that the total number of deportations during the Trump Administration was 1.5 Million.[41][42][43] For comparison, during the Obama administration, ~1.57 Million people were deported between 2009-2012, and ~1.49 Million people were deported between 2013-2016. [40][44][42]
Biden presidency (2021–2025)
Joe Biden's presidency began with reversals of many of Trump's immigration policies including border-wall construction and travel bans. [45][46][38] Despite stricter restrictions on who could be deported, the total number of deportations reached 4.4 million over 4 years; surpassing Trump's first administration. The increase was heavily attributed to title 42 expulsions, which made up a majority of removals, while deportations by ICE also fell to an average of 35,000 per year, versus 80,000 a year during Trump's presidency.[47][41][48] Illegal border crossings also reached an all-time record high of 2.2 Million in 2022 and 2.5 Million in 2023.[49][50][47]
2024 campaign
The New York Times reported that Trump planned "an extreme expansion of his first-term crackdown on immigration", including "preparing to round up undocumented people already in the United States on a vast scale and detain them in sprawling camps while they wait to be expelled", and that it "amounts to an assault on immigration on a scale unseen in modern American history". The New York Times also reported that Trump's advisors are preparing a 'blitz' strategy designed to overwhelm immigrant-rights lawyers, and that his plans would rely on existing statutes without the need for new legislation, although such legislation would also likely be attempted.[28] Economic reports from the Brookings Institution and Peterson Institute for International Economics have found that Trump's plans would result in a decrease in employment for American-born workers and result in "no economic growth over the second Trump administration from this policy alone"[51] while other estimates have it shrinking GDP by 4.2-6.8%.[52]
Policy intentions and proposals
During his rallies, Trump blurred the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, and has promised to deport both.[53] Trump has also not ruled out separating families with mixed citizenship status.[54] This could affect millions of families, with most illegal immigrants having lived in the US for more than 16 years.[55] On the campaign trail in December 2023, President Donald Trump said immigrants coming to the U.S. are “poisoning the blood of our country,” a remark that quickly drew a rebuke from his chief Democratic rival, as President Joe Biden's campaign likened the words to those of Adolf Hitler. [56]
Trump has stated he will deport between 15 and 20 million people, although the estimated number of illegal immigrants is only 11 million.[57] The American Immigration Council says that a "highly conservative" estimate of Trump's plan would cost at least $315 billion, or $967.9 billion over a decade, and be unworkable without massive outdoor detention camps. The New York Times reported "[Trump] said the military would construct them under the authority and control of the Department of Homeland Security. While he cautioned that there were no specific blueprints yet, he said the camps would look professional and similar to other facilities for migrants that have been built near the border."[28]
Trump has stated that his plan would follow the 'Eisenhower model,' a reference to the 1954 campaign Operation Wetback. To achieve the goal of deporting millions per year, Trump stated his intent to expand deportations without due process, which would be accomplished by the expedited removal authorities of 8 U.S. Code § 1225; invoking the Alien Enemies Act within the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798; and invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 to allow the military to apprehend immigrants and thus bypass the Posse Comitatus Act.[28]
Trump would reassign federal agents to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and deputize local police officers and sheriffs, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and National Guard soldiers volunteered by Republican-run states.[58][28]
Individuals would be placed in massive camps constructed with funds redirected from the military budget in case of any refusal by Congress to appropriate funding. ICE raids would be expanded to include workplace raids and sweeps in public places. Following arrest, Stephen Miller has stated that illegal immigrants would be taken to "large-scale staging grounds near the border, most likely in Texas", to be held in camps prior to deportation. The Independent interpreted the plan to mean that "Trump wants an army of Republican-loyal racial purity troops and concentration camps."
Trump told a rally audience in September 2024 that the deportation effort "will be a bloody story." He has also spoken of rounding up homeless people in blue cities and detaining them in camps.[58][59] The Trump team will also attempt to overturn the Flores settlement that prevents the indefinite holding of children.[28]
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Trump has promised to reinstate his ban on entry to individuals from certain Muslim-majority nations, and have the Centers for Disease Control reimpose COVID-era restrictions on asylum claims by asserting immigrants carry infectious diseases such as the flu, tuberculosis, and scabies.[28] Trump has said he would build more of the border wall, and move thousands of troops currently stationed overseas to the southern border.[60]
Other proposals included revoking temporary protected status for individuals living in the United States, including Afghans who moved to America following the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, while those who helped U.S. forces would be 're-vetted' to see if they really did; ending birthright citizenship for babies born in the United States to undocumented parents; using coercive diplomacy by making immigration cooperation a condition for any bilateral engagement; reinstating 'Remain in Mexico'; and reviving 'safe third country' status with several nations in Central America, and expanding it to Africa, Asia, and South America.[28][61]
Trump's campaign has stated his intention to expel DACA recipients after his previous attempt failed in 2020 by a 5–4 vote in the Supreme Court in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California. Trump's campaign has not stated whether they will reinstate Trump's former child separation policies.[28]
Detention
Summarize
Perspective
Implementation actions
At the beginning of 2025, there were over 41,000 people in ICE custody.[62] By mid-March, ICE reported holding 46,269 people in custody.[63] The Republican governors of 26 states[c] announced their support for Trump's deportation policies in January 2025.[64][65]
Policy changes
On January 22, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the administration was rolling back an Obama-era directive that had protected illegal immigrants in sensitive areas such as hospitals, places of worship, courtrooms, funerals, weddings and schools. A spokesperson stated that the Trump administration was not looking to tie the hands of law enforcement.[14][15]
On January 23, 2025, the DHS authorized federal law enforcement to assist in carrying out Trump immigration policies. A memo from acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman provided "the functions of an immigration officer" to several agencies within the Justice Department, including the DEA, ATF, and the U.S. Marshals Service. The memo gave cross-deputized authority onto these agencies.[66]
On January 23, high-profile ICE raids occurred in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Miami, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., detaining 538 people. The mayor of Newark claimed that ICE raided a local establishment and detained illegal immigrants as well as citizens, including a veteran, without a warrant.[67][68][69] The White House said that "The Trump Administration arrested 538 illegal immigrant criminals, including a suspected terrorist, four members of the Tren de Aragua gang, and several illegals convicted of sex crimes against minors."[70]
On January 24, Huffman sent out a memo stating that immigrants admitted temporarily by the Biden administration could be removed.[71]
On February 19, the Trump administration issued a stop-work order to prevent the Office of Refugee Resettlement from funding organizations providing legal services to unaccompanied minors entering the United States; Mother Jones said the order stopped legal representation for 25,000 minors and education programs on rights for 100,000 others.[72]
Detention rate
Trump set a goal of 1,200 to 1,500 ICE arrests per day, but his administration has largely failed to meet these targets. Trump's administration saw about 800 ICE arrests per day after he took office in January, declining to fewer than 600 arrests per day in February, at which point ICE stopped publishing daily statistics. Trump's rates of arrests lag those of both the Obama and Biden administrations, despite ICE officers working extra shifts and being given arrest quotas. Trump's relatively low rate of immigration enforcement has been attributed to limitations in ICE resources and staffing, as well as a dramatic decrease in the number of immigrants illegally crossing the US-Mexico border since Trump took office.[73][74][75][76]
In the early morning of January 28, 2025, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem joined multiple federal law enforcement agencies, including ICE, to lead a raid on illegal immigrants in New York City. Her department posted a video of the raid on X that showed an apparent arrest, later confirming the suspect was in custody on kidnapping, assault, and burglary charges with an outstanding warrant in Colorado.[77]
ICE officials said in early March 2025 that 32,809 arrests were made between January 20 and March 10, 2025. They also accused the Biden administration of inflating arrest statistics.[78]
Media campaign
Amid relatively low numbers of ICE arrests and deportations, Trump's administration sought to inflate the presence of deportations in media, such as by posting images of shackled deportees on social media, manipulating google searches by updating timestamps of old ICE press releases, and allowing celebrities like Dr. Phil to accompany ICE raids.[74][79]
In February 2025, the White House posted a video on social media showing immigrants in shackles being prepared for a deportation flight, along with footage of a set of handcuffs and chains jingling as they are pulled from a basket and laid out on airport tarmac next to others. The video was captioned "ASMR: Illegal Alien Deportation Flight," and was shared by the Seattle office of ICE, along with a different caption. Responses to the video ranged, with some cheering the actions shown in the video, while others called it disgusting and dehumanizing.[80]
In late April 2025 the administration posted multiple stylized booking photos along the White House north lawns perimeter with the word 'Arrested' and a severe crime listed beneath an unblurred image. The administration claims that the individuals depicted in the signs have all entered the country illegally and were all convicted of severe crimes such as murder, kidnapping, sexual assault of a child and rape. Shortly after the posting of the signs the official White House twitter account posted photos used in the signs along with the individuals full names.[81]
Conditions in detention
Detainees have reported overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in ICE detention. A group of women was denied access to the bathroom and forced to urinate on the floor of a prison bus on the way to Krome detention center in Florida. Detainees have reported being denied access to food, water, and showers.[63]
Detainee characteristics
NBC News reported that the number of ICE detainees increased from 39,238 to 41,169 over the first two weeks of February 2025. They reported that almost all of the 4,422 new detainees were male, with only 22 females. The report stated that 41% of the new detainees had no criminal charges, compared to 28% under the Biden administration. The report also noted that ICE had the capacity to hold 41,500 people, and new capacity was being sought both in the United States and Guantanamo Bay.[82]
In early April 2025, attorneys for Venezuelan immigrants with temporary protected status reported that their clients were being arrested and detained in possible violation of law, including while complying with rules to check in with ICE.[83]
Children
In February 2025, Reuters reported that ICE planned to locate over 600,000 people who entered the US as children without their parents, some of whom were no longer children and some of whom had rejoined and were living with parents, and either deport them, if deportation had already been ordered, or serve notice to appear in immigration court.[84] On March 6, 2025, ICE began to detain immigrant parents and children together in a Texas detention facility. The first group contained 3 minor children.[85]
Detention of American citizens
A number of American citizens have wrongfully been caught up in the mass deportation campaign. In Florida, a 20-year-old American citizen was detained for over 24 hours under a law, SB 4-C, that a federal judge had ordered not be enforced.[86] In Arizona, a 19-year-old American citizen with developmental disabilities was wrongfully detained for over 10 days.[87] In Virginia a naturalized American citizen was temporarily detained by ICE. After the ordeal, he insisted that when he voted for Donald Trump, he had thought they wouldn't go after "every Hispanic looking" person, but that he now believes "That’s what they’re doing, now. They’re just following Hispanic people.”[88]
Deportation
Summarize
Perspective
37,660 people were deported in Trump's first month in office, including both removals and returns, far less than the monthly average of 57,000 deportations under Biden in 2024.[11]
Flights
The United States cannot unilaterally send deportation flights to other countries; there must be an established agreement with each nation to accept the deportation flights, and they must have diplomatic ties. Some countries, such as China, Cuba, and Venezuela, have largely refused to accept these flights. The ICE has historically utilized handcuffs and chains to return deportees, which is stated to be a protection measure; however, since the start of the 2025 deportation flights, multiple countries have raised issues with the use of handcuffs and chains.[16] Legal and human rights observers have noted that such flights, to nations possibly under tariff and other threats from the U.S. and where some immigrants are detained without regular access to counsel, family communication or identity documents, may lack transparency and violate immigrants' rights.[89]
Conditions
The majority of deportation flights are undertaken by private contractors. A typical flight is staffed with more than a dozen privately contracted security guards, two nurses, an ICE officer, and flight attendants. Flights can carry more than 100 detainees, who are restrained for the duration of the flight. Flight attendants with Global Crossing Airlines, a contractor for deportation flights, shared concerns with ProPublica about their experiences on board those flights. Attendants were given no instructions as to how to evacuate restrained passengers in an emergency, and some were informally told to save themselves and other government contractors while abandoning deportees. They also raised concerns over inadequate air conditioning and lavatory facilities, as well as rules prohibiting them from speaking with, making eye contact with or feeding detainees.[90]
Colombia
On January 26, 2025, Colombian President Gustavo Petro barred two U.S. military planes carrying deported Colombian nationals from landing in the country, requesting that deportees be "treated with dignity" and sent to Colombia on civilian aircraft. Trump and Petro both threatened the other with tariffs. Later that day, U.S. officials assured Colombian officials that they would not place the deportees in handcuffs nor photograph Colombian citizens aboard the flights after they were returned, and that deportees would be escorted by Department of Homeland Security officials instead of military personnel.[91] The White House then announced that Colombia had agreed to allow the planes to land.[92] Former Colombian president Iván Duque criticized Petro's initial decision and stated on X: "It is urgent that the Petro government put the country above its populist prejudices and anti-US rhetoric and quickly establish protocols for receiving deported Colombians."[93]
Costa Rica
In the evening of February 20, 2025, 135 immigrants to the U.S. from Eastern European nations including 65 children arrived in Costa Rica. Local authorities immediately loaded them onto buses for a six-hour ride to the Temporary Migrant Care Center near the border with Panama. The center is a former wood products facility that had been extensively remodeled in 2017.[94] The U.S. would reportedly pay for their transportation while the IOM would offer assistance with any onward migration.[95]
The office of Costa Rica's independent ombudsman (Defender of Inhabitants) met and interviewed the immigrants and issued a report detailing problems with their treatment. The ombudsman's office claimed immigrants had arrived in "visible distress" and were unaware of their destination after leaving the U.S.; were not allowed to contact overseas relatives; had their identity documents taken from them; and did not receive proper medical or other services on arrival. Costa Rica's security minister Mario Zamora stated that the immigrants did receive proper care on their arrival to the temporary care center and that the ombudsman's report was based on limited contact with immigrants at the airport, a contention the ombudsman rejected.[96][97][98]
Earlier, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said his nation was receiving immigrants from the U.S. because it was “helping the economically powerful brother from the north who, if he puts a tax on the free trade zones, will wreck us.”[99]
Ecuador
Since 2005, the US has deported thousands of Ecuadorians. In 2023, 18,449 Ecuadorians were deported. In 2024, 13,589 Ecuadorians were deported, according to the Ecuadorian ministry of foreign affairs.[100][101]
From January to March 2025, 1,828 Ecuadorians had been deported so far[102] on 18 flights that travel Thursdays and Tuesdays each week.[103] The usual trip goes from Texas to Guayaquil.[101]
El Salvador
The second Trump administration continued the Biden administration's deportation of Salvadoran immigrants to their country of nationality. In 2024, an average of ten deportation flights per month arrived in El Salvador from the US.[104] As of early February 2025, a Salvadoran government official stated there had been no massive deportations from the US to El Salvador.[105]
On March 15, 2025, deportation flights carrying over 260 immigrants from Venezuela and El Salvador, alleged to be gang members, arrived in El Salvador where the immigrants were taken into custody at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT). Neither the US nor Salvadoran governments offered any immediate evidence that those deported had been charged with crimes or had connections to any gangs.[106] A 60 Minutes investigation failed to find any U.S. or foreign criminal charges against 179 of those deported, only finding serious criminal charges against about a dozen.[107] US District Judge James Boasberg ordered that any planes in the air carrying those covered by his order be turned back and those individuals returned to the US. The Trump administration allowed the flights to proceed in spite of his order.[108][109][110] On April 8, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that Judge James Boasberg was without jurisdiction to issue his order, thus the order was a nullity as coram non judice.[111]
On March 28, US District Judge Brian E. Murphy ordered that no immigrants be deported to a nation other than that covered in immigration proceedings without a "meaningful opportunity" to make a claim under the UN Convention against Torture.[112][113] Despite this order, on March 31 the US sent 17 immigrants it alleged without providing evidence to be members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13 on US military planes to El Salvador to be confined at CECOT.[114][115]
Kilmar Armando Abrego García, a Salvadoran with withholding of removal status in the United States, was mistakenly deported to El Salvador on March 15, 2025, an action the Trump administration admitted was an "administrative error"[116] while also accusing him of being a member and leader of the MS-13 gang.[117] Despite a withholding of removal prohibiting his removal to El Salvador due to the risk of persecution, he was detained by ICE and transferred to the Center for Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT) in Tecoluca.[117] His wife, a U.S. citizen, and their disabled son filed a lawsuit over the deportation and on April 4 a court ordered the government to return him to the U.S. by April 7.[118] The White House claimed to have intelligence linking him to human trafficking.[117]
Guatemala
Hundreds of illegal immigrants were flown out of the US by military aircraft. A defense official stated that two deportation flights, both to Guatemala, were flown out that same night with reportedly 81 deportees. Guatemalan officials later stated that the flights carried only 79 individuals.[70]
Mexico
On January 23, 2025, Mexico denied a United States military plane the ability to land, causing the plane to never take off while two others bound for Guatemala did. Later that week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted that Mexico accepted four deportation flights in one day from the ICE Air Operations and government-chartered flights.[119]
On February 14, 2025, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that 13,455 immigrants had been deported to Mexico, 2,970 of which did not originate from Mexico.[120]
Panama
Panama has agreed to accept US deportees who are originally from countries that US cannot deport directly to. These countries include Afghanistan, China, Iran, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. Once in Panama, they are governed by Panamanian law and are treated as immigrants. Several have requested to be repatriated to their countries of origin. Panama is currently housing those that do not want to be repatriated in a immigrant camp. It's not clear what their further processing will involve.[121]
In late February 2025, lawyers representing immigrants being held in the Panamanian camp expressed concern that they had not been allowed to communicate with their clients, who they said had been flown out of the U.S. without being screened for asylum. Panamanian president José Raúl Mulino told a press conference he did not know why immigrants were being prevented from contacting legal counsel.[122] On March 1 lawyers filed suit against Panama before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) charging that the U.S. violated the group's asylum rights, challenging Panama's authority to detain them and asking for emergency orders that none of the detainees be deported to their countries of origin. A separate suit against DHS was anticipated.[123]
In the evening of February 12, 2025, the first of several U.S. military flights carrying deportees landed in Panama. President Mulino stated some 360 deportees/immigrants would arrive on these flights, be transferred to a camp in Darién and either repatriated or moved to still other countries at U.S. expense. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated it was providing support to these immigrants at Panama's request, as did the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.[124]
The Panamanian government initially confined these immigrants in the Decapolis Hotel. Attorneys and journalists were largely unable to contact them. Those immigrants able to communicate with journalists said they were asylum seekers who feared persecution or worse if returned to their countries of origin, though U.S. Department of Homeland Security representatives claimed none had asserted such fears during U.S. processing or custody. The immigrants also stated at least one of their number had attempted suicide, while another suffered injuries attempting to escape from confinement.
One of the immigrants, Artemis Ghasemzadeh, a 27-year-old English teacher from Iran, said she had converted from Islam to Christianity, which is a capital offense in Iran.[125] With a pattern of persecution of Christians in Iran, Ghasemzadeh feared that she and other Iranian Christians would face the death penalty if she were to return there and has not agreed to be repatriated.[125][126] Ghasemzadeh also said a U.S. soldier who she was helping with translating information for other immigrants asked her not to mention that they were being taken to Panama[121] and that she had never been asked about or allowed to make a claim for asylum in the U.S.[127] Matthew Soerens, U.S. Director of Church Mobilization for World Relief, noted that in 2024, "30,000 of the 100,000 refugees resettled in the U.S. were Christians fleeing persecution."[126] Peyman Malaz, chief operating officer of the PARS Equality Center, noted that "Those who arrive at the border are often the most persecuted and desperate, such as Iranian Christians".[125] Other deported immigrants included a former Afghan military officer, ethnic minorities and LBGTQ+ individuals, and one young adult who had been separated from her family at the U.S. border.[128]
On the night of February 18, Panamanian authorities moved some 170 of the immigrants to the San Vicente camp four hours from Panama City, which previously housed people detained after crossing the Darien Gap. Journalists and attorneys were still unable to contact the immigrants.[129] In the meantime, at least one immigrant, reportedly a woman from China, escaped confinement,[130] while another woman from Ireland voluntarily returned there.[131] As of February 28, 2025, there were 9 additional Iranian Christian converts, including three children, detained in the camp. None have agreed to be repatriated to Iran.[132]
Panamanian politicians and commentators raised objections to these operations, stating that they were contrary to Panamanian and international law and that Panama should not become "the Guantanamo of Central America."[133][134] In mid-March 2025, Panamanian president Mulino said he did not know if more immigrant flights from the U.S. would arrive in Panama but that he was "not very inclined to do it, because they leave us with the problem."[128]
On March 8, 2025, Panama released the 112 immigrants from San Vicente, gave them permits to remain in the country for 30 days (renewable for an additional 60 days), and bused them to Panama City. On their release, immigrants reported substandard conditions in the San Vicente camp, including limited access to medical treatment; limited communication with families, legal representatives and journalists; and lack of information about their status and possible onward destinations. Several immigrants with possible claims to asylum said those claims had not been considered and that Panamanian authorities had told them "we do not accept asylum." immigrants' legal representatives expressed concerns that the move was an attempt by Panama to wash its hands of the individuals the US sent to it and to affect the outcome of the case before the IACHR.[135][136]
Use of Guantanamo Bay
On January 29, 2025, Trump ordered the preparation of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to house tens of thousands of immigrants.[21] Since its opening in 2002, Guantanamo Bay previously held 779 detainees, mostly without charges or trial. Detainees had their legal rights restricted and were subjected to torture. The detention camp previously cost half a billion dollars per year, making it the most expensive prison in the world.[137]
In February, 178 Venezuelan immigrants were being held in the camp, of which 126 had criminal records.[24] On February 20, a Homeland Security official stated "177 of the 178 migrants at Guantánamo Bay were deported...The one other person was sent to a detention facility in the U.S."[138]
The Trump administration has faced difficulties using Guantanamo as a immigrant detention facility. These included lack of planning, cost, uncertainty about whether ICE or the DoD would be responsible for the immigrants, the lack of policy guidance around support for facilities and services for immigrants, and the questionable legality of the transfers. A bipartisan congressional delegation was scheduled to travel to the camp, but was cancelled by U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.[23]
As of March 3, the population of the camp was around 20,[23] and as of March 13, no immigrants were being held at Guantanamo.[25] By early April several dozen immigrants "on final orders supposedly to head to their final destination" were being temporarily held at Guantanamo, including Nicaraguans who had been added to a deportation flight originating in Louisiana.[139]
Mixed-status immigrant families with U.S. citizen children
In February 2025, a mixed-status family was removed from the U.S. to Mexico after stopping at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Sarita, Texas, about 90 miles from the border. The parents in the family are undocumented Mexican citizens, and several of the children are U.S. citizens. The family had been living in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and were en route to Houston, where their 10-year-old daughter, a U.S. citizen recovering from brain cancer, had been receiving treatment. Despite having previously been allowed to pass the checkpoint with a doctor's letter, during their February trip they were detained and questioned, the daughter's medication was allegedly confiscated, and they were held overnight at a federal processing facility near the border before being walked into Mexico the next day. The mother said "[we] were confronted with the hardest decision to make, which was separate permanently from our children, or be deported together".[140][141]
A two-year-old U.S. citizen, V.M.L., was taken into custody with her mother and older sister during a "routine check-in" with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Louisiana on April 22, 2025.[142] A "next friend" of V.M.L. petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus to obtain toddler's release, and for a temporary restraining order preventing her deportation.[143] The government responded that V.M.L.'s mother was being deported and wished to take V.M.L. with her to Honduras, and presented the court with a hand-written letter saying so, allegedly written by the mother. On April 25, Judge Terry Doughty asked to speak with the mother to confirm this and consider the petitions. But ICE had already put the mother and two girls on a plane,[142] and although they were still in flight to Honduras when Doughty asked to speak with the mother, ICE did not respond until after they had deplaned in Honduras.[143] Doughty ordered a hearing for May, saying that it was "In the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process".[142]
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stated that another family, with U.S. citizen children ages four and seven, was deported from Louisiana the same day. The ACLU added that one of the children has a rare form of metastatic cancer and "was deported without medication or the ability to consult with their treating physicians–despite ICE being notified in advance of the child’s urgent medical needs".[142]
Targeting and deportation of activists
The administration has focused its catch and revoke program on foreign students who have engaged in pro-Palestinian speech, characterizing them as pro-Hamas.[144] On March 25, 2025, the state department issued a directive stating that visa applicants would be ineligible if their social media activity indicated that they were "advocating for, sympathizing with, or persuading others to endorse or espouse terrorist activities or support a designated foreign terrorist organization", and that similar activity could result in the revocation of existing visas.[145] On April 9, 2025, the DHS announced it will screen social media accounts for what it deems to be "antisemitic".[146][147]
On April 8, 2025, in response to the large number of student visa revocations, Inside Higher Ed started tracking the number of known visa revocations for students and recent alumni, and mapping the colleges and universities reporting visa revocations. As of the morning of April 9, the tracker showed 419 students and recent alumni from over 80 institutions of higher education across the U.S. In many cases, immigration authorities have not notified the institutions of the reasons for the visa revocations.[148]
Impact
Summarize
Perspective
Immigrant communities
According to the Brazilian news outlet g1, undocumented Brazilian immigrants living in the US report that they are skipping work and avoiding sending their children to school for fear of arrest. They are also using messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, to share real time information on the movements of ICE. In some instances this has led to panic due to misinformation, such as a false report of ICE drones flying over neighborhoods. Social organizations, such as Boston's Brazilian Worker Center, have hosted information meetings where immigrants can learn their rights and set up custody documents for their children in case the parents are deported. Many of these meetings are held online since people are afraid to go out of their homes.[149]
An 11-year-old girl in Gainesville, Texas named Jocelyn Carranza committed suicide after students at her school started a rumor that ICE would deport her family.[150]
Education
Some school districts, such as in California, New York, Georgia, and Illinois, have already issued sweeping directives stating that district teachers, officials and administration were not to comply with ICE officials or allow them on school grounds unless they were presented with a valid court-issued warrant.[15] Several schools reportedly had parents and guardians of students calling shortly after the inauguration about concerns of ICE agents being able to access school grounds.[151] An article from WBTV shared that on March 5, students from Monroe High School located in Monroe, North Carolina walked out in order to protest against ICE raids in schools to share their support for their peers.[152]
Economic
The American Immigration Council estimated the cost of conducting a million deportations at $967.9 billion in federal government spending over a decade.[153]
Shortly after Trump took office in January 2025, rumors of mass deportations and fears of increased ICE raids impacted the agriculture sector with massive drops in field workers who showed up for work the day after the inauguration.[14]
After it was announced that Trump was utilizing military planes to deport individuals, it was estimated that each flight cost over $850,000. Each of the recent deportation flights had about 80 people on board.[154][155]
Construction, manufacturing, agriculture, service, and childcare are among the sectors that employ large numbers of illegal immigrants.[18][156][157][158] Adam Tooze said that the planned deportations would cause "a series of rolling shocks to a large part of the U.S. economy" and would also affect people outside those sectors by raising prices.[156] Manuel Cunha Jr., the president of the Nisei Farmers League in California, said, "If you took away my workforce, you wouldn't eat. ... The country will stop, literally stop because the food system won't move."[159] Lack of childcare would prompt some people to leave the workforce.[158]
Healthcare
After it was reported that ICE might arrest people at hospitals, hospitals in Washington[160] and Georgia[161] advised staff to alert security guards or supervisors if they were questioned by ICE. The states of Texas and Florida required healthcare facilities to "to ask the immigration status of patients and tally the cost to taxpayers of providing care to immigrants living in the U.S. without authorization."[162]
Law Enforcement Impersonation
It was reported in February 2025 that law enforcement had arrested individuals in at least three states that were allegedly impersonating ICE officers during the ramping up of deportations. Sean-Michael Johnson was arrested in South Carolina and charged with kidnapping and impersonating a police officer after reportedly detaining a group of Latino men. Johnson was recorded by one of the men stating “Where are you from, Mexico? You from Mexico? You’re going back to Mexico!”. In North Carolina, Carl Thomas Bennett was arrested for impersonating an ICE officer and sexually assaulting a woman threatening to deport her if she did not comply. A Temple student was charged as one of a group of students, wearing shirts with "Police" and "ICE" printed on them, that attempted to enter a residence hall and then moved to disrupt a local business in Pennsylvania.[163][164]
On Native Americans
On January 23, 2025, tribal leaders of the Navajo Nation in Arizona reported that they have received calls and text messages from Navajo people living in urban areas who have been stopped, questioned, or detained by ICE, prompting a detailed discussion of the topic during a Naabik’íyáti’ Committee meeting. State Senator Theresa Hatathlie, who represents Arizona's 6th legislative district, joined the committee meeting and shared her report in the Navajo language.[165] Hatathlie reported to the Council that she received a call about a case involving eight Navajo citizens who were detained for hours with no cell phones or ability to contact their families or tribes.
April Ignacio, who grew up and lives on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation (whose tribal lands are on both sides of the Arizona-Mexico border and where U.S. Customs and Border Protection has had a presence for decades) said that the Trump administration's new policies are taking aim at tribal communities "in new and shocking ways", which will draw attention to the communities and spur tribal responses.
Termination of humanitarian parole
The termination of the humanitarian parole program by Donald Trump's administration in March 2025 will particularly impact hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who had entered the United States legally under the policy implemented by President Joe Biden. The measure, scheduled to take effect on April 24, 2025, will revoke work permits and deportation protections for these immigrants, requiring them to leave the country or face removal.[166] Originally designed to provide a legal and orderly pathway for Venezuelans fleeing a severe political and economic crisis, the program allowed applicants to enter the U.S.[167] with the support of a financial sponsor and gain immediate access to the labor market.[168]
Out of the more than 500,000 individuals admitted through this mechanism, a significant proportion were Venezuelan nationals who relied on this route to avoid dangerous and unauthorized border crossings. The program also applied to immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua, the Venezuelan diaspora represented the largest contingent, driven by one of the most extensive displacement crises in Latin America. The Department of Homeland Security argued that the program failed to effectively reduce pressure on local communities and support systems, citing the continued high levels of illegal migration. The repeal reflects a broader shift in immigration policy under Trump toward stricter border control measures, supported by Republican critics of Biden's more open immigration stance, despite the parole program's role in reducing disorderly migration flows from Venezuela.[169][170]
Statistics
| Day | Arrests (% change from prior Day) |
|---|---|
| January 23 | |
| January 24 | 593(+9.27%  ) |
| January 25 | 286(-51.8%  ) |
| January 26 | 956(+334% ) |
| January 27 | 1,179(+23.3% ) |
| January 28 | 969(-17.8% ) |
| January 29 | 1,016(+15.6% ) |
| January 30 | 962(-5.3% ) |
| January 31 | 913(-5.1% ) |
| February 1 | 864(-5.4% ) |
| February 2 | 736(-14.8% ) |
| February 3 | 715(-2.9% ) |
| February 4 | 815(+14% ) |
| Totals as of February 4 |
| Month | Deportations (% change from prior Month) |
|---|---|
| February 22, 2025 | |
| March 22 | |
| April 22 | |
| May 22 |
Legal issues
Summarize
Perspective
On January 25, it was reported that some immigrant rights groups in Chicago filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration against the deportation plans, claiming the specific targeting of sanctuary cities such as Chicago violated the US Constitution. The executive director of Raise the Floor Alliance, Sophia Zaman, claimed the motives of the raids were retaliatory by the Trump administration against the cities policies.[171]
Shortly after the announcement of the rollback of an Obama-era directive that protected immigrants from sensitive areas such as hospitals, places of worship and schools, a coalition of Quakers filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block ICE raids on houses of worship. The coalition included the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, New England Yearly Meeting, Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Adelphi Friends Meeting and the Richmond Friends Meeting.[172] The Quakers coalition argued that the practice of communal worship is uniquely harmed by the possibility of immigration arrest or search, as worship commonly involves multiple congregates sitting in silence to await a message from God.[173]
On February 11, 2025, a coalition of more than two dozen Christian and Jewish denominations sued the Department of Homeland Security et al. over its decision to allow ICE agents to raid houses of worship to make arrests. The groups are asserting that the raids will violate their religious freedom rights under the First Amendment. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.[174]
Numerous challenges have been made in court to the deportation policies. In April 2025, the US Supreme Court ruled against deportation of Venezuelans held in Texas.[175]
Protests
Demonstrations emerged nationwide against enhanced immigration enforcement policies under the Trump administration and the increasing activity of ICE. Demonstrations occurred in Texas,[176] California,[177] Alabama,[178] South Carolina,[179] and Indiana,[180] primarily in metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles.[177] A protest held in Charleston, South Carolina, led to the arrest and detention of seven protesters for gathering in a group of more than 25 people without a permit.[179]
See also
Notes
- Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming
References
External links
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