Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda Makes Everyone Less Safe — Including Immigration Agents
We all want to be safe, and we want law enforcement to adopt policies that keep us safe — and make communities feel safe. It’s also true that ICE officers have a genuine concern for their own safety. Yet the Trump administration’s aggressive mass deportation operations are premised on an explicit goal of making immigrant communities feel unsafe; to frighten millions of immigrants into “self-deportation.” |
Trump Administration Deadlier for ICE Detainees Than COVID-19 Pandemic
On September 29, 2025, in what has become a shockingly common occurrence, Huabing Xie died in ICE custody after suffering an apparent seizure. Xie, a citizen of China, is the 23rd person officially reported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to have died in custody this fiscal year, marking 2025 as the deadliest for ICE detainees since 2004. As of writing, two more people have died in ICE detention since the fiscal year ended on September 30. |
|
|
Since 2019, the federal government has used the Electronic Nationality Verification (ENV) program to accelerate deportations, particularly of Central Americans. By sharing biometric data between U.S. and foreign authorities, ENV allows ICE to verify nationality and remove people without obtaining paper travel documents—raising serious transparency and due process concerns. Our new factsheet breaks down how the program works, who is affected, and why more oversight is urgently needed.
Read more: The Electronic Nationality Verification Program: An Overview |
|
|
Across administrations, the federal government has used U.S. businesses as an arm of immigration enforcement through “worksite raids.” These actions—ranging from audits to high-profile arrests by ICE—aim to deter unauthorized employment but often devastate families, communities, and local economies. Our latest factsheet traces the history of worksite enforcement, the agencies and legal authorities involved, key legal challenges, and the lasting human and economic impacts of these raids.
Read more: Understanding ICE Raids at American Workplaces |
A federal judge has denied the government’s motion to dismiss our lawsuit challenging ICE’s restrictions on attorney access at an Arizona immigration detention center. The American Immigration Council, ACLU, and partners argue that people detained in ICE facilities face severe barriers to confidential communication with their attorneys—violating constitutional rights and federal standards.
The court found that our plaintiff, the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, had adequately alleged due process and Rehabilitation Act violations, noting that the combination of limited private visitation, lack of contact visits, restricted legal calls, and no video conferencing may collectively deny meaningful access to counsel.
Read more: Challenging the Government’s Barriers to Access to Counsel in Immigration Detention Centers |
“Families’ futures are on the line. That’s why we need to better understand how these arrests at immigration courts are being carried out, and the degree to which supposedly independent and neutral agencies like the EOIR are pushing a mass deportation agenda. The public has a right to know what the EOIR and ICE are doing behind closed doors.” |
|
|
Your support fuels this work |
Cut through the clutter with our focused immigration news and policy analysis. Your monthly support makes a difference. |
|
|
American Immigration Council
1331 G St. NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC xxxxxx
United States |
To make sure you keep getting these
emails, please add [email protected] to your contacts or mark our emails as 'safe.' |
|
|
|
