Trump Administration’s Mass Deportation Operations: Update January 2026

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security believes that the escalation of hyper-militarized mass deportation operations targeting Black and Brown communities coupled with ongoing threats of national guard deployment from the Trump Administration is evidence of normalization of using military force against civilians and a red flag for the genocidal process underway in the U.S. (See our previous Red Flag Alerts and statements for the U.S.). Cities across the U.S. continue to face armed mass deportation operations as the Trump Administration deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers along with agents from other federal agencies to carry out enforcement operations under the guise of protecting public safety (See December Brief). However, these enforcement operations have resulted in human rights violations committed by the federal agents against noncitizens and citizens alike, including unlawful arrest, excessive use of force, arbitrary detention, and denial of due process. In an effort to better document the tactics and abuses of federal agents during these state-sanctioned operations, the Lemkin Institute is providing an analysis of key insights and incidents during the month of January 2026.

Mass Deportation Operations

January was marked by the shootings of U.S citizens by ICE agents amidst further escalation in violent tactics employed by federal agents against non-citizens and citizens alike including bystanders and legal observers of immigration operations.  In the wake of fatal shootings by federal agents, advocacy groups saw a “threefold increase” in the number of people volunteering to be legal observers of ICE operations. These growing networks of legal observers have intensified their efforts to observe and document ICE arrests and blow whistles to warn community members of ICE activity. In an attempt to discredit and mischaracterize ICE watch efforts, President Trump labelled these volunteers as “Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists.”

Federal agents are still employing the smart phone app, Mobile Fortify, with facial recognition technology while in the field to determine whether a person should be apprehended. The app has been used by agents over 100,000 times to scan faces and fingerprints to find data on a person from a pool of multiple federal and state databases. However, this data has been criticized by federal courts as too inaccurate for even an arrest warrant, and the conditions in which agents are scanning people in the field contribute to high false match rates. Nathan Freed Wessler, Deputy Director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project explains, “ICE is effectively trying to create a biometric checkpoint society” and  “a false result from this technology can turn somebody’s life totally upside down.”

The Trump Administration continues to expand its immigration detention centers across the country and has granted ICE almost $15 billion a year until 2029 to spend on immigration detention. More NGO reports have detailed the deteriorating inhumane conditions and mass human rights violations experienced by detainees. Detainees have reported denial of access to adequate food,  medical care, and legal counsel in addition to overcrowding and being subjected to solitary confinement. According to the American Immigration Council, hundreds of thousands of noncitizens have been trapped “in an increasingly opaque world of remote jails and private prisons, where U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) can exert ever-greater pressure on the people it is jailing to give up, accept deportation, and forego any chance to remain in the United States.” The majority of immigration detainees have no criminal record. Due to an increase in “roving patrols” and “collateral arrests” – where agents racially profile and grab anyone in the vicinity who may “look” undocumented – as well as worksite raids and “rearrests” at immigration appointments and check-ins, the number of detainees with no criminal background has risen 2,450% from January to November 2025. As the number of those in detention increases, the possibility of release has decreased with the institution of the Trump Administration’s blanket “no-release” policy and reclassification of those detainees so that they are covered by “mandatory detention” laws. For example, the Laken Riley Act passed in January 2025 expanded mandatory detention to undocumented immigrants charged or arrested (but not convicted) for suspicion of theft. Due to these policy and legal changes, people are disappearing into immigration detention for “days, weeks, or months at a time” with “no option for release other than filing a habeas corpus lawsuit.”

Minnesota

In December 2025, the Trump Administration launched Operation Metro Surge to carry out mass deportation operations in the Twin Cities area (see December brief). At the beginning of January, the Administration deployed another 2,000 federal agents, including ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Homeland Security Investigations agents, to Minnesota, specifically Minneapolis. In parallel, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched Operation PARRIS in Minnesota to reexamine thousands of refugee cases using new background checks and intensive verification for refugee claims. Through this initiative, USCIS and DHS refer cases of what they deem to be fraud to ICE agents in the area.

With an influx of federal agents, the Twin Cities area saw an escalation of mass deportation operations and violent tactics employed by agents against ICE targets, protestors, and legal observers who warn their community of ICE activity and film ICE agents. Federal agents brutally shot and murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti, while they were looking after the safety of their fellow community members and exercising their legal right to observe ICE operations (see statement). The Trump Administration falsely labelled Good and Pretti “domestic terrorists” and “professional agitators,” and justified the violent actions of federal agents as self defense despite video evidence to the contrary showing that Good and Pretti did not pose a threat. Vice President JD Vance and White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller spread false claims that federal agents operate with “immunity.” Miller declared, “To all ICE officers: You have federal immunity in the conduct of your duties, and anybody who lays a hand on you, or tries to stop you, or tries to obstruct you, is committing a felony… no one—no city official, no state official, no illegal alien, no leftist agitator or domestic insurrectionist—can prevent you from fulfilling your legal obligations and duties.”

In the wake of Good’s murder, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem pledged to send “hundreds more” agents to Minneapolis and federal agents began door-to-door raids of residential areas. Agents raided a Liberian man’s home and used a battering ram to break down his front door. Without a warrant, agents stormed a home in St Paul brandishing assault weapons and detained six residents, including a 12-year-old boy. A U.S. citizen of Hmong descent was taken after federal agents bashed his door in without a warrant and arrested him at gunpoint without allowing him to produce his ID. Agents forced the man outside in his underwear in subfreezing temperatures before putting him in a car and driving him to the “middle of nowhere” to photograph him outside and fingerprint him. After realizing he was a U.S. citizen, agents eventually took the man back to his house.

Federal agents also continue to racially profile their targets. One local attorney commented, “If you don't have white skin, you are in danger of being stopped by ice and profiled.” This has even led to several off-duty members of law enforcement being stopped by ICE demanding proof of citizenship. Federal agents arrested four Oglala Sioux Tribe members despite tribal citizens being U.S. citizens therefore outside of immigration jurisdiction. Three of the four were transferred to an ICE facility at Fort Snelling. DHS refused to release more information on these detainees unless the tribe “entered into an immigration agreement with ICE.” Additionally, federal agents attempted to enter an Ecuadorian consulate in Minneapolis in breach of diplomatic protocols and international law. When a consulate employee attempted to explain to agents that they were not allowed on the premises, one agent threatened, “If you touch me, I will grab you.”

Children continue to be the target of ICE operations. In January, four Columbia Heights Public Schools students were arrested by ICE agents, including a 5-year-old boy, a 10-year-old girl, and two 17-year-olds. The 5-year-old boy was Liam Ramos who was arrested along with his father and then used essentially “as bait” in an attempt to apprehend additional family members outside his house. ICE detained Liam and his father and later transferred them to the Dilley Detention Center in Texas where they were subject to inhumane conditions (see full statement). On January 21, two teenage siblings aged 16 and 15 were also arrested by agents near Whittier Clinic. A high school student was arrested and detained for five days by federal agents despite having legal status. Children also have been caught in the middle of federal agents releasing chemical irritants. Several members of a family, including a 6-month-old, were hospitalized after their car was stuck between protestors and federal agents and a flash bang and chemical agent was deployed near their car.

State officials have sued the Trump Administration over the conduct of “thousands of armed and masked” federal agents who “conduct militarized raids and carry out dangerous, illegal, and unconstitutional stops and arrests in sensitive public places” as well as racially profile their targets. In mid-January, the state sought a temporary restraining order against ICE operations in Minnesota. Assistant U.S. Attorney General Brian Carson stated the Administration has “sent now nearly 3,000 masked heavily armed agents to the site, to the Twin Cities and they are engaged in a pattern of unlawful violent conduct, illegal racial profiling, excessive force, warrantless force, entries into home — and they are openly flaunting state criminal code." However, US District Judge Kate Menendez on January 14 denied this request. On January 17, Governor Tim Walz mobilized the Minnesota National Guard to “help support public safety, including protection of life, preservation of property and supporting the rights of all who assemble peacefully.” By January 19, the Pentagon was prepared to deploy 1,500 active duty soldiers in Alaska to Minnesota and President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act which would essentially institute martial law in Minnesota.

Outrage over the continued escalation of mass deportation operations as well as the shooting of Good and Pretti sparked new waves of protests which have been met with violence and chemical irritants employed by federal agents. The Whipple Federal Building which ICE has been using as a detention center and headquarters of operations continues to be a focal point for protestors to gather. On January 16, Judge Menendez issued an injunction which barred federal agents from “retaliating against individuals engaged in peaceful, unobstructive protest activity” and “using pepper spray, tear gas or other crowd-control munitions against peaceful demonstrators or bystanders observing and recording the immigration enforcement operations.” Despite this injunction, federal agents continued to use chemical irritants and crowd control munitions against protestors and legal observers, including grenades spewing unidentified green smoke.

Maine

In late January, DHS confirmed federal agents had been deployed to Maine as part of “Operation Catch of the Day.” Statements from Trump officials hint that the decision to target Maine was due to a feud between President Trump and the state’s Democrat governor, Janet Mills. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated, “Governor Mills and her fellow sanctuary politicians in Maine have made it abundantly clear that they would rather stand with criminal illegal aliens than protect law-abiding American citizens.” Maine also may have been targeted due to its large Somali community in Portland and Lewiston. As of January 22, ICE claimed that it had identified 1,400 targets and had arrested 50. City council member and Ghana native Pious Ali explained that “[o]ur schools have seen about a quarter of immigrants not showing up” and that immigrants who work in schools, hospitals, and hotels are afraid to go to work.

California

Federal agents have been carrying out mass deportation operations in Los Angeles and southern California for more than six months. The new year began with the shooting of Los Angeles resident Keith Porter Jr outside his apartment complex by an off-duty ICE officer. DHS claims that the officer was “forced to defensively use his weapon” in response to an “active shooter.” However, Porter’s family refutes these claims, asserting that he did not pose a threat and was celebrating New Year’s Eve with his family. On January 21, federal agents opened fire on a man driving away from agents who ended up crashing into one of the agent’s cars. Agents eventually arrested the man after he continued fleeing on foot. While the man was unharmed by shots fired, federal agents did not call 911 to ensure that the man was not injured in the crash.

These are not the first shootings committed by federal agents in the state. Southern California has seen a series of shootings by federal agents during mass deportation operations dating back to last summer. Richard Parias and Carlos Jimenez, both U.S. citizens, were shot by federal agents. In both incidents, federal agents claim that these men had allegedly attempted to drive into agents. Using the same justification, federal agents also opened fire on a truck while attempting to arrest a man in San Bernardino.

Over January 9-12, news outlets reported ICE raids in Ventura, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, National City, Los Angeles, Downey, Commerce, Ontario, Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, Laguna Hills, Mission Viejo, Aliso Viejo, Pomona, San Diego, Jurupa Valley, Santa Ana, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Oxnard, Indio, Glendale, and Pasadena. Federal agents arrested people in parking lots, at gas stations and bus stops, outside their workplaces, while doing yardwork, on the street, during traffic stops, and at intersections. ICE has also been reported targeting the unhoused and street vendors. Community members reported federal agents following people and targeting street vendors in Lincoln Heights. ICE has also arrested people outside of schools as they drop off their children. Councilmember Ysabel Jurado commented, “It's not a coincidence that these raids happened on the first day of the kids going back to school…It's so tragic that these kids that are going back are coming home with one less parent.”

Incidents from Other States

• Texas: In January, multiple ICE raids were conducted in El Paso targeting construction sites. In addition to raiding construction sites along the border, federal agents have also targeted large urban areas and buildings where immigrants report for court hearings and immigration appointments such as federal buildings in El Paso, immigration courts in San Antonio, and probation offices in Dallas. Recently passed Texas Senate Bill 8 requires sheriffs in all counties with a population over 100,000 and a jail to enter into agreements to collaborate with ICE under the 287(g) program.

• Arizona: Federal agents detained Peter Yazzie from the Navajo Nation in Peoria despite him having his ID, birth certificate, and Certificate of Indian Blood with him. Yazzie was traveling to work when ICE agents approached him. Agents forced Yazzie to the pavement and later put him in an ICE vehicle, claiming that Yazzie stole both his vehicle and his identity. In a statement, indigenous lawmakers responded, “ICE agents continue to show a complete disregard for the rule of law and have absolutely no justifiable reason to go after Indigenous Tribal members…In case they need a history lesson, tribal members are United States citizens.”

Immigration Restrictions

Building upon restrictions from December 2025, the Trump Administration announced on January 14 that the issuance of all immigrant visas were paused for nationals from 75 countries due to the claim that immigrants from these countries are at “"high-risk" of becoming a public charge.” According to the U.S. State Department, this pause will remain in effect until “the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people.” This new policy will not revoke any existing visas or affect any non-immigrant visas such as tourist visas. At the same time, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it has terminated Temporary Protection Status (TPS) for Somalia which was going to expire on March 17, 2026.

Third Country Agreements

In January, the Trump Administration continued to expand its third-country network with Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica both signing agreements with the Administration. The Lemkin Institute has previously issued a Red Flag Alert for the Trump Administration’s deportation of noncitizens to third countries not of their nationality and without due process. In these coutries they are at risk of – and many have suffered from – being subjected to severe human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, inhumane conditions, and torture. The Trump Administration, fully aware of the conditions deportees will face, continues to seek agreements with third-countries that will facilitate the further imprisonment of deportees or where instability, distance from the U.S., and deplorable human rights records (particularly regarding their treatment of migrants) provide another avenue of containment.

• Antigua and Barbuda: Entered into an agreement with the Trump Administration on January 5. While the country is a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, there lacks an official domestic process for asylum seekers. Asylum claims are handled ad hoc and decided by administrative discretion in the absence of specified legal procedures. Access to asylum as well as legal status in the country are not codified rights, putting third country deportees in jeopardy.

• Dominica: Entered in an agreement with the Trump Administration on January 5. Dominica is a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol but lacks specified domestic legal procedures for determining refugee status. The country is also not a party to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and has no domestic legal framework to identify and protect stateless persons. Without official legal procedures and safeguards, asylum seekers and stateless persons are vulnerable to human rights violations and lack access to much needed benefits.

Analysis

The Lemkin Institute is deeply concerned at the rapid escalation of state-sanctioned violence employed by federal agents against non-citizens and citizens alike to unlawfully arrest and detain those they racially profile and deem to be “undocumented” and therefore “criminals.” Agents have also increasingly employed violence against bystanders and legal observers of ICE operations. In addition to unlawful arrest, use of excessive force, denial of due process, and arbitrary detention, with the murder of Keith Porter, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti, federal agents are now carrying out extrajudicial killings with impunity. With the Trump Administration justifying these murders along with the other constitutional and human rights violations carried out by federal agents during mass deportation operations, it is evident that federal agents are being used as a state-sanctioned secret police to surveil and terrorize communities and target those the Trump Administration has deemed undesirable.

The systematic, state-sanctioned constitutional and human rights violations carried out by federal agents against Black and Brown communities raise further alarm for a rapidly unfolding genocidal process against these communities. Since 2024, the Trump Administration has repeatedly used language that labels undocumented immigrants as “criminals” and “terrorists” who are “invading” the U.S., “defrauding” its government, and posing a threat to its citizens. The Administration claimed it was going after the “worst of the worst” with its mass deportation operations, but the available data on who is being detained shows the opposite –  the majority of detainees have no criminal record. Not only is the Trump Administration rhetorically and legally attempting to classify being undocumented as a criminal offense punishable to the fullest extent of the law, but also the Administration is eliminating legal avenues of immigration, exposing entire communities to its mass deportation dragnet.

The racial profiling tactics of federal agents and the comprehensive, widespread denial of due process has demonstrated that the Trump Administration’s plan for immigrants goes beyond legal status and extends to anyone who “looks” undocumented. In other words, any Black or Brown person is under suspicion of not being a U.S. citizen and therefore is under suspicion of being a “criminal” that poses a threat to the U.S. government and its citizens. Those who fall victim to ICE’s racial profiling are unlawfully arrested and placed in detention, where they are subjected to inhumane conditions and denial of access to legal counsel with little to no guarantee of due process, judicial review, or release. The conditions within detention centers with no oversight or accountability raise the concern that they are effectively concentration camps designed to punish Black and Brown people, including Indigenous people and other citizens. Detainees are also at risk of being deported to third countries not of their nationality, like Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, where they are at risk of further human rights violations.

The Trump Administration and federal agents, including DHS, ICE, and CBP officials, must be investigated and held accountable for mass human rights abuses which could amount to crimes against humanity and may be part of an ongoing genocidal process that will only radicalize if left effectively unchecked. As part of accountability measures, DHS, ICE, and CBP must be dismantled and not be allowed to operate as a secret police. Evidence of an unfolding genocidal process against Black and Brown communities in the U.S. must also be examined. The Trump Administration’s network of immigration detention centers must be dismantled and investigated as potential concentration camps. Additionally, states must exercise their right to not collaborate with federal agents carrying out mass deportation operations and take measures to keep their communities safe.

As long as we’re able, the Lemkin Institute will continue to monitor the genocidal process unfolding in the U.S. The Institute wants to stress that while we do our best to document incidents of state-sanctioned human rights violations committed by federal agents, we are only able to access information that is publicly available. The select incidents we are able to highlight are not exhaustive and the extent of these mass deportation operations and human rights violations is most likely underreported by open sources. Documentation of these incidents is key. We encourage those who are able to safely do so to document and report incidents to local grassroots community defense organizations monitoring ICE activity in your area.

Resources

• Ice in My Area Tracker: Report and track ICE activity in your area 

• Immigration Policy Tracking Project: Stay up to date on rapidly changing immigration policies  

• National Immigration Legal Services Directory: Search for immigration services near you

• National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights: Offers information to connect people to legal and community resources and currently lists national, state, and local immigration hotlines

• Immigrant Legal Resource Center : Provides information and currently lists California Rapid Response Networks to report ICE activity

• National Immigration Law Center: Provides information and resources on immigration policy

• American Civil Liberties Union: Stay up to date on changing immigration policies and ongoing litigation

• Immigrant Defense Project: Offers information on community defense and ICE tactics as well as a hotline to connect people with further resources and provide legal advice

• American Immigration Council: Provides breakdowns of immigration law and changing policy

• National Immigrant Justice Center: Provides legal resources and general information on current issues

• Third Country Deportation Watch: Provides information on third country deportations and countries who have entered into agreements with the U.S.

• ICE Flight Monitor: Human Rights First tracks and documents U.S. deportation flights