The CoreCivic-operated Nevada Southern Detention Center, with a contractual capacity of 422, was consistently overcrowded. ICE planned to add a soft-sided structure for 450 additional beds, more than doubling capacity. CoreCivic announced a contract modification enabling detention of an additional 784 people.
Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak announced that his deputies, trained under a federal ICE program, have arrested approximately 70 undocumented immigrants in the Cheyenne area over two months. This includes 40 truck drivers arrested during a three-day sweep with ICE and Wyoming Highway Patrol, plus around 30 others pulled over by deputies and handed to ICE since October 1. Civil rights advocates question whether the enforcement is targeting the "worst of the worst" as promised or casting a wider net.
A 27-mile segment of a 30-foot steel bollard wall is being constructed in Arizona's San Rafael Valley, an environmentally sensitive area that was spared during the first Trump administration. The Department of Homeland Security used federal waivers to expedite construction by eliminating environmental and procurement laws. Environmental groups warn the wall will reduce wildlife crossings by approximately 86% and threaten endangered cross-border species like jaguars.
According to an Instagram post citing AP News, 19 immigrants who were deported to Ghana were moved to an unknown location and cannot be reached by their families or attorneys.
A weeklong Border Patrol operation in Charlotte in mid-November 2025 resulted in 370 arrests of undocumented immigrants through street patrols and vehicle document checks. The operation caused significant disruption: school attendance dropped 20% among public school children, and businesses closed during the enforcement period. Following the operation's conclusion on November 20, the immigrant community held protests. Most of those arrested are expected to be deported. Border Patrol agents subsequently deployed to target New Orleans.
Internal documents reveal conditions on Avelo Airlines' deportation flights for ICE. Incidents include hazardous materials being loaded onto planes, flight attendants being prevented from conducting required safety checks, shackled migrants unable to evacuate in emergencies, and long mechanical delays leaving detainees trapped on aircraft. A cabin pressure emergency on November 13 injured six people on board.
Seven detainees filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration on November 12, 2025, alleging severe medical neglect, punitive conditions, and inadequate disability accommodations at California City Detention Facility. The lawsuit, supported by the ACLU and other organizations, describes denial of medical care, excessive solitary confinement, lack of disability accommodations, denial of legal access, sewage backup, insect infestations, frigid temperatures, and insufficient clothing and food. The facility, reopened in 2025 by for-profit company CoreCivic at a former state prison in the Mojave Desert, can hold up to 2,560 people and has faced intense criticism since opening, with detainees staging sit-ins and hunger strikes, including one involving over 100 people in mid-September.
California revoked approximately 13,000 commercial driver's licenses for migrant drivers after the Trump administration required the state to cancel licenses whose expiration dates exceeded drivers' legal status end dates. The federal government has banned the DMV from processing new commercial license applications, though affected drivers may apply for standard Class C licenses. Civil rights groups challenged the cancellations, but the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected an emergency request to pause the revocations effective March 6, 2026.
The Santa Ana Police Department has deployed approximately 57 automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras from Flock Safety and Motorola to track all drivers in the city, with data shared in national databases. Simultaneously, ICE is establishing a 24/7 social media surveillance team at the Pacific Enforcement Response Center in Santa Ana to identify and target individuals for arrest. The surveillance infrastructure represents a public-private partnership between local law enforcement and immigration authorities.
As the Trump administration intensifies a mass deportation campaign, immigrant parents are rushing to make temporary guardianship arrangements for their children. Legal clinics report increased demand as parents seek to designate emergency caretakers such as friends, acquaintances, or teachers to care for their kids.
The flow of migrants crossing from Guatemala into Mexico has dramatically decreased since the Trump administration implemented stricter border policies and mass deportation campaigns. Migrants who were traveling northward toward the United States are now turning around and heading south, with daily crossings at the Guatemala-Mexico border falling from over 1,000 to 40-50 people. Shelters in Tapachula that were overcrowded with migrants nine months ago have nearly emptied, and raft pilots who once earned over $100 daily ferrying migrants across the Suchiate River now have little work.
The Trump administration launched Operation Midway Blitz, an immigration enforcement surge in the Chicago region beginning in September 2025, resulting in over 4,300 arrests during the two-month operation. Protests at the Broadview ICE holding facility led to criminal charges against four protesters; federal agents used flashbang grenades, tear gas, and pepper balls against protesters and journalists. In May 2026, a federal judge dismissed charges against the four protesters after revealing improper prosecutorial conduct, including inaccurate descriptions of agents' actions in court.
The FBI issued a warning about criminals impersonating ICE agents to commit violent crimes including robberies, kidnappings, sexual assaults, and threats. At least five incidents have occurred since early 2025 in North Carolina, New York, and Florida, with impersonators using fake credentials and ICE-labeled clothing to target vulnerable communities. The FBI attributed the effectiveness of these scams to increased ICE enforcement activity and media coverage, and provided guidance to law enforcement on identifying impersonators and verifying legitimate agent credentials.
A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction restricting the use of force by federal agents in Chicago, finding the Trump administration's version of recent events involving agents was not credible. The judge noted that Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino admitted to lying during proceedings related to the incident.
A ProPublica report documents ICE's detention of approximately 170 American citizens during immigration enforcement operations, revealing widespread Fourth Amendment violations. The article details multiple cases of ICE agents using excessive force against U.S. citizens, including pepper-spraying a man filming agents, tackling a 79-year-old car wash owner, and detaining a woman without outside contact for over two days, despite Department of Homeland Security claims that ICE does not arrest U.S. citizens for immigration enforcement.
A federal judge issued a 14-day temporary restraining order against ICE's Broadview, Illinois facility following a class-action lawsuit by detainees over inhumane conditions including overcrowding, filthy toilets, and lack of hygiene supplies. The order requires the facility to provide clean bedding, adequate space, soap, toilet paper, medications, three meals daily, and bottled water, with holding rooms cleaned twice daily and detainees allowed to shower at least every other day. The judge also barred agents from misrepresenting documents to detainees and required authorities to provide free private phone calls to lawyers. A status report on compliance is due by Friday.
U.S. Border Patrol agents conducted an immigration enforcement operation at a Home Depot in Cypress Park on Election Day, involving about two dozen agents in tactical gear and approximately a dozen unmarked vehicles. At least six people were detained, including a toddler who was later reunited with family. Agents also entered a nearby day laborer center operated by IDEPSCA on private property, and one site coordinator was allegedly forcibly detained and injured.
An FBI-led raid at an Idaho race track resulted in immigration-related arrests.
Operation Midway Blitz was a federal immigration enforcement surge in Chicago beginning in September 2025 that targeted Latino neighborhoods including Little Village, Pilsen, and the Southeast Side. The operation resulted in approximately 3,800 detentions and 2,500 deportations over several months, with the majority of those detained having no criminal records. A federal judge's 233-page opinion and Chicago Tribune review documented that ICE and Border Patrol agents routinely violated constitutional standards and broke established urban policing protocols, including improper vehicle positioning, reckless gun handling, tear gas deployment, and confrontational tactics. Former police leaders and policing experts, including former CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske and former Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, criticized the tactics as unnecessarily escalating situations and endangering suspects, protesters, innocent bystanders, and officers. The operation sparked widespread protests and resulted in court orders limiting agents' unconstitutional actions. Federal immigration enforcement in Chicago decreased after agents left the city in November following the initial operation.
Since January 2025, the Trump administration has pursued detention and deportation practices separating parents from children. In late November 2025, the Women's Refugee Commission and Physicians for Human Rights documented cases of deported adults in Honduras, finding that over half were deported without their children and many were longtime US residents with US citizen children. Many parents reported being unable to obtain information about their children's whereabouts or care following deportation.
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