Immigration

ICE Detention Growth and Conditions

When Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, there were 39,000 people in ICE detention. By late August, that number reached a record 61,000. The administration conscripted local jails, federal prisons, and private companies to hold the overflow. It opened Camp East Montana on the grounds of Fort Bliss in Texas, which became the largest immigration detention center in the country.

Within its first 50 days, ICE’s own detention-oversight unit found that Camp East Montana violated at least 60 federal detention standards. Inspectors documented failures to screen for mental health risks and staff who did not perform required safety checks. Emergency 911 calls from the facility revealed at least six suicide attempts and at least 20 seizures.

Former detainees reported physical and sexual abuse, medical neglect, and intimidation to pressure them into signing self-deportation orders.

Three of the 25 people who died in ICE detention since October 2025 were held at Camp East Montana alone.

Deaths in ICE Custody, 2024 to 2026

At least 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025. That is triple the previous year and more deaths than occurred during the entire Biden administration. It is the highest annual total since 2004.

NPR reported on several of the deaths. Brayan Rayo-Garzon, 27, was found unresponsive in his cell with a blanket around his neck. During his two weeks in detention, his mental health appointment was rescheduled twice. Jesus Molina-Veya was discovered with a cloth ligature tied to the bottom rail of a top bunk. Chaofeng Ge was found in a shower stall four days after his intake assessment. Victor Manuel Diaz, a Nicaraguan man, died at Camp East Montana under circumstances that remain disputed.

The office supposed to investigate these deaths (the DHS Civil Rights and Civil Liberties office) has had hundreds of staff cut. ICE inspections of its own facilities fell even as detentions rose, the Project On Government Oversight found. Tell Congress to restore independent detention oversight.

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Deportation Cases in the Courts

The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia shows how a removal error moved through the courts.

1. March 15, 2025: Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man living in Maryland with a 2019 immigration-court order, called withholding of removal, that barred his deportation to El Salvador, was deported and sent to CECOT, El Salvador’s Center for Terrorism Confinement. The government later called it “an administrative error.” At the time, he had not been charged with a crime.
2. April 10, 2025: The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the government must “facilitate” his return.
3. June 6, 2025: The government returned Abrego Garcia to the United States and arrested him on a federal indictment for “unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain.”
4. May 2026: A federal judge dismissed those charges as a vindictive prosecution, and the government is appealing. In August 2026 the Fourth Circuit refused to lift an order blocking his deportation to Liberia.

The Alien Enemies Act and Flights to CECOT

In March 2025, the administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime law last used during World War II, to deport 238 Venezuelan men to El Salvador. They were sent to CECOT, a facility that holds prisoners in 24-hour lockdown with no access to lawyers. The United States paid El Salvador to take them.

A federal judge later ruled the deportations violated due process. The men were given no meaningful chance to contest their removal. A federal appeals court ruled the administration had illegally invoked the wartime law.

The diplomatic disputes spread beyond El Salvador. In January 2025, Colombia refused to accept two U.S. military planes carrying deportees. President Petro demanded they be “treated with decency.” Trump responded with tariff threats and visa sanctions. Colombia backed down within hours. Brazil accepted a deportation flight but filed a diplomatic complaint after deportees were reportedly handcuffed in degrading conditions during the flight, in violation of a bilateral agreement.

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Asylum Access at the Southern Border

On his first day back in office, the president declared a national emergency at the southern border and suspended access to asylum. Courts have since ruled that suspension unlawful: a federal judge in July 2025, and the D.C. Circuit 2-1 in April 2026. The administration cancelled approximately 30,000 scheduled CBP One appointments and closed the pathway for an estimated 200,000 to 270,000 asylum seekers in Mexico who were actively using the system.

The Migrant Protection Protocols (known as Remain in Mexico) were reinstated for a third time. This forces people who apply for asylum at the border to wait in Mexican border cities while their cases are processed. During the program’s first run, asylum seekers were exposed to kidnapping and extortion by criminal groups in northern Mexico.

The administration has also signed “safe third country” agreements with at least 10 nations, including Paraguay, Rwanda, Uganda, and Belize. These agreements allow the United States to send asylum seekers to countries they never passed through. A federal judge in Boston ruled in February 2026 that immigrants must be given meaningful notice and time to raise country-specific objections, but the agreements remain in effect while appeals continue.

The immigration court backlog has reached more than 2 million cases, and the average asylum case now takes about four years to decide. People required to wait in Mexico may wait years before a judge hears their case.

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287(g) Agreements and Local Police

On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order directing ICE to expand 287(g) agreements, the program that deputizes local police to enforce federal immigration law, “to the maximum extent permitted by law.”

The number of 287(g) agreements has grown from 135 to more than 1,864 across 39 states, more than thirteen times as many in less than 18 months.

In September 2025, ICE announced it would pay the full salary and benefits of any trained 287(g) officer, plus startup costs and bonuses based on how many immigration arrests officers make.

The administration also rescinded the sensitive-locations policy that had protected schools, churches, and hospitals from immigration enforcement since 2011. ICE agents now operate in and around all of these locations at their discretion. There have been widely reported arrests near schools in Denver and outside churches in Washington, D.C.

Nine states have now banned 287(g) agreements, with New Mexico, Maine, and Maryland enacting bans in 2025 and 2026. But in states that participate, a traffic stop can become a deportation proceeding.

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Children Affected by Parental Detention

Between January 2025 and April 2026, an estimated 400,000 people were detained through interior arrests. Immigration arrests more than quadrupled in 2025, reaching the highest rates of immigration detention in U.S. history.

Brookings researchers estimate that approximately 205,000 children have been affected by a parent’s detention. About 145,000 of them are U.S. citizens. More than 22,000 children experienced the detention of every parent they lived with.

Physicians for Human Rights found that most deported parents were never asked if they had children. Dozens were deported within four or five days of being detained. In April 2025 alone, more than 8,000 children aged 11 or younger received deportation orders.

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ICE Funding in the 2025 Budget Law

In July 2025, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and handed Immigration and Customs Enforcement the largest funding surge in the agency’s history. ICE’s base budget was already around $10 billion. The new law added $75 billion in supplemental funding that ICE can spend over four years. $45 billion goes to detention expansion and $30 billion to staffing and bonuses. At a steady pace, the agency will have nearly $29 billion on hand each year. That is more than the FBI’s entire budget.

By the end of 2025, ICE was 30% larger than it was in January. The law calls for a force of 30,000 within four years. The American Immigration Council reported that the Senate passed the package without the accountability measures some senators had proposed.

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What You Can Do About Immigration Enforcement

1. Know your rights and share them. If ICE comes to your door, you do not have to open it without a judicial warrant signed by a judge. You have the right to remain silent. The ACLU’s Know Your Rights resources apply to everyone regardless of immigration status.

2. Support local resistance. If your city or state is considering a 287(g) agreement, show up to the public hearing. If your state has banned the program, thank the officials who voted for it. Local decisions determine whether your police department enforces federal immigration law.

3. Help someone who is afraid. Drive a neighbor to a legal consultation. Help a family make a safety plan. Share information in your community about what to do if a family member is detained. The most effective thing you can do is make sure one more person knows their rights.