Human Impact Project

The Trump administration deported more than 200 people to Iran in the 13 months leading up to a military conflict, with 18 deported in late January 2026, just days before American and Israeli airstrikes began. This occurred despite the State Department warning U.S. citizens that Iran was too dangerous to travel to. A broader analysis found the U.S. deported over 21,000 people to countries the State Department deemed unsafe, including war zones and brutal dictatorships, with the vast majority having no criminal convictions and at least 600 being children.

The Trump administration deported 238 Venezuelan men to El Salvador's CECOT prison on March 15, 2025, under the Alien Enemies Act, claiming they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang and invoking a law unused since World War II. The men were deported without deportation hearings or due process. ProPublica's investigation found at least 197 of the 238 men had no criminal convictions in the U.S.; Human Rights Watch determined nearly half had no criminal history; and ICE's own data showed only 3% were convicted of violent crimes. The men reported torture including beatings, stress positions, sleep deprivation, sexual violence, and denial of medical care. They were held for four months before being returned to Venezuela on July 18, 2025, as part of a prisoner swap. The Trump administration paid El Salvador $6 million to hold the deportees.

At least 51 people have died in ICE custody since January 2025, with 2026 on track for the deadliest year in decades. An AP investigation found at least 10 detainees died by suicide, predominantly Hispanic men from Latin America. Deaths have been linked to inadequate medical care, mental health neglect, and overcrowding as ICE expanded detention capacity to over 96,000 beds. Congressional letters, state inspections, and advocacy reports have documented systemic failures including delayed emergency responses, lack of mental health services, and deaths from treatable conditions. Six deaths occurred in California facilities alone, the highest since state inspections began.

A class-action lawsuit filed by civil rights organizations challenges Trump administration policies allowing ICE to arrest immigrants at immigration court hearings. The lawsuit, Pablo Sequen v. Albarran, alleges at least 89 people were arrested at San Francisco Immigration Court during a six-month period in 2025. Plaintiffs include asylum applicants from Peru, Guatemala, and Colombia who were arrested immediately after court appearances.

On September 30, a U.S. District Court ruled that Tacoma immigration judges were unlawfully denying bonds to detained immigrants, often keeping them in jail-like conditions for months or years. However, the immigration judges have continued to deny bonds, citing lack of jurisdiction and claiming the court ruling is merely an advisory opinion. Immigration judges are administrative bodies under the executive branch rather than independent courts, raising questions about whether they must comply with district court orders.

Voluntary departure agreements in immigration courts have surged to 89,494 cases as of May 1, 2026, more than seven times the number from the final 16 months of the Biden administration. The Trump administration's mandatory detention without bond policy is pressuring immigrants to leave voluntarily, even those with legal rights to stay. Detention facility conditions are described as dire, with 51 deaths reported since Trump's inauguration.

Immigration courts inside the Justice Department are holding unprecedented 'mega master' hearings with 100 or more people at a time — up from 2-3 dozen previously — to accelerate deportation proceedings. Attorneys report these hearings largely target unrepresented immigrants and those who show up late or not at all receive removal orders, with little notice being provided by the government.

A Brookings Institution report estimates that more than 145,000 US citizen children have had at least one parent detained since the start of Trump's second administration, with over 22,000 experiencing detention of all co-resident parents. The mass deportation campaign, heavily influenced by immigration czar Stephen Miller, has accelerated family separations at a faster rate than the Biden administration. ICE arrests of parents have doubled in the first seven months of Trump's second term, with mothers being targeted at four times the rate of the Biden era.

The owner of a company that trained paramilitary Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents testified that he was involved in at least four lethal shootings, according to a 2021 deposition related to a lawsuit. The article raises concerns about the use of force by ICE personnel and contracted trainers.

A Brookings Institution report estimates that approximately 146,635 US citizen children have had a parent detained by immigration authorities during the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign since January 2025. The study found that more than 22,000 children experienced detention of all co-resident parents, with roughly 36% younger than six years old. Washington DC and Texas have the highest share of affected American children, while parents from Mexico account for nearly 54% of cases.

U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel issued a ruling prohibiting ICE from making arrests at three Manhattan immigration courthouse buildings except in cases of serious public safety threats. The decision reversed a Trump administration practice that had resulted in hundreds of undocumented immigrants being detained during mandatory court check-ins, separating them from family members. The judge's order came after the Trump administration acknowledged that policies cited to justify the arrests did not legally apply to immigration courts. The ruling allows immigrants to attend removal proceedings and pursue asylum claims without fear of arrest at these locations.

Pastor Antonio, an African immigrant whose immigration case is pending, leads a multilingual evangelical church in southern Maine serving local African communities. Attendance has plummeted as congregants stay home out of fear of ICE arrests, with members telling him they are too scared to come in person. Antonio himself expresses concern about what could happen to him as a parent and advises parishioners to ensure their immigration papers are in order. Advocates including the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project and Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition report increased ICE activity concentrated in the Lewiston-Auburn area, with agents detaining people near their homes. Community members are reactivating informal networks to document arrests, with advocates reporting nine arrests in three weeks and at least one arrest documented near Portland.

Manhattan Judge P. Kevin Castel issued a stay barring ICE agents from conducting civil arrests on immigration courthouse grounds in New York City, pending the outcome of a federal lawsuit. The order came after the Department of Justice admitted it had relied on incorrect information for months to justify civil migrant arrests at immigration courts. The lawsuit, brought by African Communities Together and The Door, challenges Trump administration guidance from 2025 that broadened circumstances for civil immigration arrests in or near courthouses, arguing the policies violate the Administrative Procedure Act and constitutional due process by denying immigrants an opportunity to seek asylum.

Six people died in California immigration detention centers over the past year as crowded facilities struggled to provide basic medical care, according to a state investigation. Four deaths occurred at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County and two at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico. The deaths represent the highest toll since the state began inspections seven years ago, coinciding with Trump administration deportation campaigns that increased detention center populations by over 150%.

A federal judge reversed his prior approval of ICE arrests at immigration courthouses in Manhattan after federal prosecutors admitted the agency had misled the court about the legality of the practice. The judge now restricts ICE arrests at three Manhattan immigration courts to only cases involving national security threats, public safety risks, imminent violence, or evidence destruction in criminal cases. The ruling came after plaintiffs from African Communities Together and The Door challenged the practice as discouraging court attendance.

A federal judge ruled that the Department of Homeland Security's mandatory detention policies for immigrants who entered without inspection violated federal law and the Administrative Procedure Act. The ruling allows hundreds of immigration detainees in Nevada to seek bond hearings before an immigration judge. The ACLU of Nevada brought the class action lawsuit challenging the policies, which advocates said could also affect thousands of future immigration detainees. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit issued a ruling finding that ICE's mandatory detention policy violates federal law. The decision addresses the legality of a blanket detention practice without individualized consideration of detainees' circumstances or flight risk.

California's Attorney General released findings from inspections of seven ICE detention facilities in the state, documenting degrading strip searches, guards abusing authority, poor food conditions, overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and inadequate medical care. Six migrants died in these facilities between September 2025 and March 2026, and detainee populations increased 162% compared to 2023.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted at least 245 removal flights in April 2026, marking a monthly record since tracking began in 2020. One flight bound for Poland and Moldova made stops in Armenia, Georgia, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan over 51 hours, with passengers physically restrained throughout the entire journey including during layovers and fuel stops. The surge in deportations was driven largely by increased flights to Mexico and an expansion of third-country removals, where immigrants are deported to nations where they have no citizenship or family connections. Human Rights First reported that these operations lack transparency and due process protections.

A federal judge in Colorado ruled that ICE agents repeatedly violated a November 2025 preliminary injunction requiring them to follow federal law when making warrantless arrests. The court found that ICE failed to properly train agents on requirements to document flight risk assessments before arrest, with agents receiving only minimal instruction such as emails with no formal training. Arrest forms universally failed to comply with the court order. The judge ordered ICE to develop and conduct training within 45 days on complying with federal law and the court order, prohibited agents from making warrantless arrests if they failed to complete the training, and required ICE to improve documentation and pay attorneys' fees. The court documented that ICE arrested people without determining flight risk, including U.S. citizens' family members, longtime residents, and asylum seekers in legal processes.

ICE has conducted intensified immigration enforcement operations in Maine beginning in January 2026. ICE deputy assistant director Patricia Hyde confirmed nearly 50 arrests as part of "Operation Catch of the Day," with a target list of 1,400 people in the state. By May 2026, enforcement activity escalated further in Portland and Lewiston, with the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition reporting a 75 percent increase in calls to its immigrant defense hotline over two weeks. Those detained include an Ecuadorian mother, a Honduran father with U.S. citizen children, and an Angolan woman seeking to work as a nurse. Local advocacy groups report ICE is targeting people around their homes, primarily those in lawful immigration processes with no criminal records, including asylum seekers with pending applications. Local officials in Portland and Lewiston expressed concern about ICE's tactics and lack of communication with city authorities, and noted increased fear in immigrant communities.

Immigration judges issued more than 80,000 voluntary departure orders from January 2025 through March 2026, according to court data obtained by the Vera Institute of Justice—at least seven times higher than the 11,400 issued during the last 15 months of the Biden administration. Over 70 percent of those granted voluntary departure during Trump's second administration were being held in immigration detention. The Trump administration has promoted voluntary departure on social media and in posters at detention centers and courts. More than 9,000 people received permission to leave in March 2026. Immigration attorneys and researchers attribute the spike to prolonged detention without bond hearings, mounting psychological strain, newly appointed inexperienced judges, and soaring asylum denials, characterizing the trend as part of Trump's broader mass deportation agenda.

ICE Director Todd Lyons issued a memo on Monday restricting members of Congress from conducting unannounced visits to the Otay Mesa Detention Center and requiring two days' advance notice plus written consent from each detainee before congressional visits are allowed. Reps. Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs were denied the ability to speak with detainees during an unannounced oversight visit, citing the new restrictions. The policy comes as a federal appeals court ruled Friday against the Department of Homeland Security's request to remove a stay that had previously allowed congressional visits to proceed. Multiple detainees have filed complaints about medical neglect, inadequate food, and poor sanitation at the facility.

ICE issued a new memo blocking unannounced congressional visits to detention centers, requiring lawmakers to specifically identify detainees they wish to meet and provide at least two business days' notice. Democratic Reps. Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs were allowed into Otay Mesa Detention Center but blocked from speaking with any of the over 1,000 detainees inside. Federal judges have twice ruled against such restrictions, and a federal appeals court unanimously determined that congressional visits cause only "administrative inconvenience" to the government.

U.S. District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Homeland Security from making warrantless arrests of noncitizens in Oregon immigration sweeps unless individualized determination of flight risk is made. The ruling, which includes testimony from plaintiff Victor Cruz Gamez, a 56-year-old who has been in the U.S. since 1999, puts Oregon in line with similar court decisions in Colorado and Washington, D.C., and addresses concerns about violent enforcement actions and due process violations during the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

A KPBS investigation revealed that the Brawley Community Foundation, a registered nonprofit, owns the Imperial Regional Detention Facility, an ICE immigrant jail in California. The foundation has secured at least $6 million in property tax breaks since 2016 using its nonprofit status, benefits typically reserved for charities and hospitals. The foundation owns the detention center through a subsidiary company and has been involved in its operations for over a decade.

The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice reported that since early May 12, 2026, ICE and Border Patrol agents conducted multiple operations across Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, including warrantless raids, traffic stops, and arrests. Organizers confirmed more than 15 sightings of ICE operations and at least 5 arrests in the region. Witnesses reported aggressive enforcement tactics, including an incident where agents violently attempted to detain a man despite him presenting proof of identity. Elected officials, community organizations, and immigrant rights advocates gathered at Palm Springs City Hall on May 13 to denounce the operations and express concerns about racial profiling and fear in the community.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit heard oral arguments on whether the Trump administration's mandatory detention policy—requiring detention of nearly all undocumented immigrants—is legal. The case involves two undocumented immigrants detained under the policy after more than a decade in the United States; both were ordered released by federal judges in Philadelphia, who found their detention unlawful. The panel appeared divided, with Judge McKee pressing the Justice Department on whether immigrants can be detained indefinitely without recourse, while Judge Mascott appeared more open to the government's position. Similar challenges have reached five other circuit courts, with mixed rulings so far.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an ICE policy denying detained immigrants access to bond hearings, finding the mandatory detention of long-term U.S. residents unconstitutional and contrary to federal law and three decades of government practice. The 2-1 decision in Lopez-Campos v. Raycraft upholds four separate district court rulings from Michigan judges who found that residents—many with U.S. citizen families and some who have lived in the country since infancy—were being unlawfully detained without due process. The court's decision is expected to affect thousands of people in Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky and reflects arguments made by the ACLU in four consolidated cases challenging the Trump administration's directive reversing decades-long access to bond hearings.

Voluntary departure agreements in immigration courts have surged to 89,494 cases as of May 1, 2026, more than seven times the number from the final 16 months of the Biden administration. The surge is attributed to mandatory detention without bond policies and squalid conditions in detention facilities, which pressure immigrants to leave the U.S. even if they have legal rights to stay. Immigration courts have become a venue where these agreements are being negotiated at high rates.

U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents violated a December court order restricting warrantless arrests in Washington, D.C. The original order required ICE to determine probable cause that a person could flee before obtaining a warrant, considering factors like community ties, employment, and length of residence. However, ICE relied on a memo by acting ICE Director Todd Lyons that authorized arrests of people deemed "likely to escape," which Howell found inconsistent with her order. Advocacy groups CASA and ACLU documented 33 cases of continued warrantless arrests after the preliminary injunction was issued.

Tomas Aranas Fuentes was awaiting trial for sexual assault in Colorado when federal immigration agents removed him from court during jury selection. Local prosecutors say ICE has deported dozens of people before they could face criminal charges, disrupting cases and denying victims their day in court. Prosecutors report ICE is using Colorado's criminal justice system to identify and deport undocumented people.

ICE awarded a contract to MVM Inc., a private security contractor, to conduct "wellness checks" on undocumented immigrant children who were previously released from government custody. MVM is currently facing a lawsuit from Guatemalan families alleging torture, enforced disappearance, and cruel treatment stemming from its role in the family separation policy under the first Trump administration. Immigration advocates and attorneys argue the wellness checks are a pretext to locate and arrest children or their sponsors.

A Stateline analysis of ICE data from August 2025 to early March 2026 found that about 25% of immigration arrests were labeled as 'collateral' arrests resulting from street sweeps and raids where people were detained based on appearance or proximity to someone with a warrant. Approximately 70% of collateral arrests involved people with only immigration-related violations, compared to 41% for warranted arrests, and less than 2% involved convictions for violent crimes. Lawsuits challenging these arrests as violations of civil rights have prompted reduced large-scale sweeps in cities like Minneapolis and Chicago.

Data analysis shows that while ICE arrests have surged in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the percentage of arrestees with criminal records has dropped significantly. In January 2026, nearly 60% of immigrants arrested in Pennsylvania and 68% in New Jersey had no criminal convictions or pending charges, contradicting the Trump administration's stated focus on deporting 'the worst of the worst.'

Internal ICE records detail widespread use of force by guards in detention centers, including chemical agents and physical tactics against detainees. Pedro Cantú Ríos, a 68-year-old immigrant held in an Alaska jail, reported exposure to chemical agents while detained in cramped conditions with limited access to personal belongings and basic necessities.

A report by Rent Brigade found that ICE and Border Patrol raids during Operation Midway Blitz have caused immigrant families in Chicago to lose thousands in wages and fall behind on rent. Survey data from 100 immigrant renters in Logan Square and Avondale showed average rental debt of $1,700, with 62 percent behind on rent and wages dropping from $700 to $509 weekly after the raids.

A Marshall Project investigation examines California's practice of transferring incarcerated people to ICE custody upon their release from state prison. Since 2015, over 18,000 people have been transferred, including those with valid legal status and those whose convictions were vacated. The article contrasts California's approach with Oregon's 2021 law prohibiting such transfers and details how the prison-to-ICE pipeline has intensified under the Trump administration.

Human Rights Watch released a detailed report documenting the deportation of almost 13,000 third-country nationals, primarily Cuban nationals, between January 2025 and March 2026 without due process or access to basic services. The report profiled 53 deportees who had fled political repression in Cuba, built lives in the US for many years, and were held in immigration detention facing overcrowding, poor medical care, and inadequate conditions. These individuals were deported to Mexico without documentation, money, or belongings, and none were permitted to challenge their deportation, violating due process rights under US and international law. The deportees now face Mexico's under-resourced asylum system with no legal status, shelter, or medication, with most over age 60 and having chronic health conditions.

A class action lawsuit filed by six detained noncitizens challenges a Trump-Vance administration policy that blocks detained immigrants from completing biometric collection while allowing the government to deny their pending immigration applications for failing to complete that same requirement. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues the policy creates an unlawful procedural trap that violates federal immigration law, the Administrative Procedure Act, and Fifth Amendment due process protections by making mandatory compliance impossible for detained applicants.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office, in coordination with ICE and other state and federal partners, conducted a six-day undercover operation called "Polk Around and Find Out" that resulted in 266 arrests and 439 charges. The operation targeted human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, prostitution, and related crimes. Of those arrested, 19 were charged with felony counts related to attempting to meet minors for sex, 247 were arrested on prostitution and trafficking-related charges, and 34 were identified as undocumented immigrants. Authorities identified seven possible human trafficking victims and offered them social services.

Between August 2025 and March 2026, approximately 64,000 people were arrested by ICE during street sweeps as "collateral" arrests—detained based on appearance or proximity to someone with a warrant rather than having individualized warrants themselves. These collateral arrests represented roughly a quarter of ICE's 253,000 total arrests during this period. About 70% of collateral arrests involved only immigration-related violations, compared to 41% of warrant-based arrests, and less than 2% involved violent crime convictions. Multiple lawsuits have challenged the legality of these arrests, and arrest numbers declined following public outcry.