Trump Administration’s Mass Deportation Operations: Update May 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 April Brief). However, these enforcement operations have resulted in human rights violations committed by the federal agents against noncitizens and citizens alike, including racial profiling, unlawful arrest, excessive use of force, extrajudicial killings, 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 May 2026.

Mass Deportation Operations

At the beginning of May, there were reports that the Trump Administration may be “recalibrating” its approach to its mass deportation operations, opting to move away from “aggressive, public-facing tactics” towards a “quieter approach.” Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin claimed, “[w]e’re still enforcing immigration laws. We’re still deporting illegals that shouldn’t be here. We’re still going after the worst of the worst — but we’re doing it in a more quiet way.” However, ICE still maintains its plans to remove 1 million people in the coming fiscal year and its capacity to detain 100,000 people and has received billions in additional funding. Immigrants rights advocates are bracing for the Administration’s attention to move away from big ICE raids and turn to further stripping noncitizens of rights and legal avenues of immigration.

Tensions rose within Homeland Security leadership of how to achieve this goal of deporting 1 million people. Leaders have discussed a “master plan” to create a National Incident Command Center that would “combine the powers of ICE and CBP, along with the Defense Department, to coordinate surging immigration enforcement operations in cities across the U.S.” This new command center would focus its efforts on targeting those already in the country with removal orders with federal agents tracking their addresses and entering their homes without the need for warrants. Federal agents would then fast track the removal of these targets without the opportunity for appeal. However, not all DHS leaders are on board with this proposed plan.

Other agencies have been restructured to support the Administration’s mass deportation efforts. Reports from May outline the massive restructuring of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to support the Administration’s deportation goals. In the first 9 months of the Trump Administration, more than 6,500 FBI agents were diverted to “immigration-related matters.” New estimates put the total number of FBI agents working on immigration at 9,161 in these first 9 months. Director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute, David Bier, commented, “[t]his is showing the extent to which the resources of the FBI were put at the disposal of Immigration and Customs Enforcement contrary to the intent of Congress, and the abuse of the funds that Congress grants the FBI to accomplish its mission.” The Justice Department also dropped thousands of criminal cases in the last year to focus on immigration cases. In the first 6 months of the Trump Administration, the Justice Department closed 23,000 criminal cases and prosecuted 32,000 immigration cases.

DHS is continuing to expand its contracts with tech companies that specialize in biometrics making experts concerned that the government is “gathering biometric data from people it detains.” DHS just granted BI2 Technologies, which specializes in iris scanning, a $25 million contract and requested more than 1,500 iris scanners along with access to the company's mobile app and iris scan database. DHS claims that ICE will use this technology to “assist in accurately identifying individuals encountered during immigration enforcement and removal operations, including confirming identities and backgrounds of individuals who may be subject to enforcement actions.”

Reports indicate that local sheriff’s offices who have opted into collaborating with ICE have received millions of dollars from the federal and state governments. These officers received this money after joining ICE’s 287(g) program which “gives local police the authority to arrest undocumented immigrants.” Both Texas and Florida have required sheriff's departments to join the 287(g) program and have been rolling out grants to participating local police. Sheriffs in Florida received money from a pool of $250 million from the state after participating in the program. DHS has also been promising $100,000 for new vehicles and equipment to local police who join in addition to salary and benefit reimbursement and bonuses based on the number of undocumented people turned into ICE. The ACLU’s Director of Government Affairs for Immigration, Naureen Shah, explained, “We've never seen this financial incentive scheme exist in any way with this program, and Congress never intended for ICE to be swooping in to these local jurisdictions and offering them money in exchange to participate.”

ICE “Wellness Check” Operation

In order to track down undocumented children, ICE has contracted a private security company, MVM Inc., that has been accused of torture and enforced disappearance. This private company has been contracted specifically to locate children previously released from federal custody as they go through immigration proceedings. These undocumented children are placed in shelters, foster homes, or with sponsors (usually an approved relative) by the Office of Refugee Resettlement. ICE is now trying to locate these children for what they describe as “safety and wellness checks.” ICE claims they seek to “confirm the children’s location, school enrollment and overall wellness, including checking for signs of abuse or trafficking.” However, according to an internal memo, the aim of these operations is actually to deport undocumented children or pursue criminal cases against them or their adult sponsors. The Executive Director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Michael Lukens, explained, “This all seems like a ploy to do two things: one, find either kids or their sponsors to arrest and deport. Or, two, scare children into self-deporting.” ICE keeps pushing the narrative that these children are “missing” because they don’t have a system to adequately track them. Lukens commented, “Their parents know where they are, their lawyers know where they are, usually the courts know where they are. It’s just ICE doesn’t have their address in a file…Those kids were never missing but they’re using it as an excuse to do these ‘wellness checks’.”

This month, reports indicate that two police officers operating outside of their jurisdiction went to three schools in Cincinnati, Ohio and attempted to “question school administrators about children attending the facilities on behalf of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) so-called “wellness checks”.”The officers were armed and did not tell administrators that they were working on behalf of ICE. These officers showed school administrators a list of 30 people asking if they attended their school. All three locations denied the officers access “after failing to produce warrants or papers.”

In addition to local police, MVM’s involvement in locating children for these “wellness checks” is concerning given its past. MVM was accused in 2018 of “holding immigrant children in a vacant office building for three weeks” during the first Trump Administration’s family separation policy.  In 2020, MVM detained migrant children and their families in hotels before they were removed from the country. In 2024, MVM was sued for “torture, enforced disappearance and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment” and for its role in the family separation policy under the first Trump Administration. Neha Desai at the National Center for Youth Law commented, “We have seen MVM harm children in federal immigration custody in egregious ways for many years now…It is both deeply disturbing and completely unsurprising that this government has hired MVM to conduct so-called ‘wellness checks’. These checks have already terrorized numerous children and have led to family separation throughout the country.”

ICE Detention: Deteriorating Conditions and Increasing Deaths

Continued Expansion of Detention Centers

In the wake of reports of worsening detention conditions, lawsuits, and local opposition, the Department of Homeland Security is moving forward with its plans to expand its network of detention centers through converted warehouses. Through its "Detention Reengineering Initiative,” ICE is working to expand detention capacity to 92,000 beds across the country. ICE is currently preparing construction and operations contracts at warehouse sites near San Antonio and El Paso, and work is being continued at a warehouse near Hagerstown, Maryland. In addition, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has commented that DHS will be exploring county jails and other more local facilities to expand detention capacity.

Closing of DHS Watchdog Office

At the beginning of May, the Trump Administration began shutting down the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman (OIDO) which was responsible for “investigating abuse and misconduct in immigration detention facilities” and allowed “detainees, families, and attorneys to file complaints and seek oversight of detention conditions.” The OIDO was separate from ICE and CBP and reported directly to DHS. The OIDO conducted announced and unannounced visits to over 100 detention centers (both government and private), interviewed and received complaints from detainees, and filed inspection reports. According to reports, the OIDO “has begun removing its public signage, halting inspections, and taking its website offline.” Employees at the OIDO began receiving “reduction in force” notices as early as March 2025 when 110 OIDO staff were placed on 60-day administrative leave. At this time, other DHS oversight offices like the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the USCIS ombudsman also had 150 and 44 employees respectively put on administrative leave. Former DHS spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin previously commented that these watchdog offices “obstructed immigration enforcement by adding bureaucratic hurdles” and “often function as internal adversaries that slow down operations.” McLaughlin also claimed that the OIDO “misused taxpayer funds by facilitating complaints that encourage illegal immigration.” By early 2026, the OIDO had been reduced to only a few employees, received no additional funding, and was notified that the “OIDO has been eliminated in its entirety.”

The dismantling of the OIDO comes in the wake of increasing deaths and deteriorating conditions in detention. Additionally, ICE issued a memo restricting oversight by members of Congress and their staff at detention facilities. Previously, members of  Congress could “provide lists of specific individuals in detention they wish to meet, ask to meet with individuals who are part of specific demographic groups or have been arrested in specific operations, or post sign-up sheets to find individuals to meet them.” The new memo requires ICE to facilitate meetings between detainees and Congress members only if the congressional office has specifically identified the detainees they wish to visit in detention. The detainee must then give their consent for the visit two days prior to a visit from members of Congress. This impedes Congress’ ability to freely speak with those in detention, and given the lack of transparency of who is being detained where, this could make speaking to detainees even more difficult. The memo also claims that “taking pictures or filming inside facilities disrupt operations.”

Use of Force

In May, the Washington Post published an investigation showing that “detention center staff used physical force or chemical agents on detainees at least 780 times” across 98 ICE detention centers in 2025 amounting to a 37% increase from the previous year. The report asserts that in several incidents “guards forcibly handled detainees who repeatedly asked staff for things to which they are legally entitled, including food and water, medical care and personal belongings.” Reports indicate that the widespread use of force by guards against detainees may be an intentional tactic to pressure detainees into voluntary departure. One detainee in Arizona remembered a guard telling him that “It’s part of my job. I have to make your life miserable so that you request your own deportation.”

Many detainees describe abuse and humiliation at the hands of ICE officers both in detention and while being transported. One woman formerly detained in Basile, Louisiana described being detained along with 58 women and that “[s]ome of them didn’t know where their children were.” She also recounted being constantly yelled at by guards. Another woman in ICE detention described the humiliating treatment she experienced being transferred from one center to another: “They put you in chains – and they tighten them – to the point where they leave marks on your arms and legs, making it impossible to walk. They would grab you by the arm to force you to walk faster, and I would plead with them, ‘Miss, it hurts! Please! I can’t walk.’ We couldn’t even pull back our hair because our hands were shackled to our waists. And the chains were heavy.” She also remembered ICE agents refusing to tell her where she was being transferred, openly mocking detainees, and not providing adequate food and water. She recounted, “Tears were rolling down my face because my stomach hurt. I begged for water just to fill it, and they were, like ‘later, later..’”

Medical Neglect and Deaths in Detention

The medical neglect of detainees by detention staff is widespread across the Trump Administration’s network of ICE detention centers. One detainee was denied food and showers while in detention and developed bone spurs and neuropathy. One woman held at Camp East Montana has been suffering from a lime-sized ovarian cyst for which detention staff have been repeatedly denying her surgery despite her being in intense pain. Eight OB-GYNs and an emergency physician have reviewed the woman’s case and concluded that “she is at “high risk” for a medical emergency and urgently requires surgery.” In spite of these recommendations from medical professionals, ICE officials claim that the woman does not require surgery and has been treating her pain with over-the-counter medication after misdiagnosing her and refusing to do further testing. Detainees held at the GEO Group-run Adelanto detention center in California report being denied medications for skin cancer and access to a MRI to monitor a spinal tumor.

As of May 2026, nearly 50 people have died in ICE custody since the beginning of the Trump Administration’s mass deportation efforts. Many of these deaths were preventable and due to deteriorating conditions and widespread medical neglect. These deaths also include an increasing number of detainee suicides. At least 10 detainees have died by suicide since January 2025. Public health officials and jail experts asserted that the “unprecedented number of suicide deaths is an indication that authorities are failing to properly oversee the detention of tens of thousands of immigrants swept up in the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation strategy.” The AP found that “staff in the facilities ignored signs of distress, delayed mental health treatment and failed to monitor detainees who were already deemed at risk. They also permitted detainees to have access to materials that could be used for self-harm.” Detention staff also regularly employ solitary confinement.

In late May, a lawsuit was filed against ICE based on the “dire” conditions which violate the human and constitutional rights of detainees held at Camp East Montana on the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Human Rights Watch, and the Texas Civil Rights Project are among those who filed the lawsuit and they allege that the conditions in the camp violate the Fifth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act.

The complaint asserts that conditions for detainees are “dangerous and abusive” and “squalid” and highlights the lack of adequate medical and mental healthcare, “inappropriate use of force,” “indiscriminate use of solitary confinement,” spoiled and inadequate food, disease outbreaks including measles and tuberculosis, “unsanitary living conditions,” and sexual harassment by guards. The lawsuit also claims that detainees are “confined to windowless enclosures in tents and suffer egregious physical abuse by guards.”  Solitary confinement, according to the complaint, is often used to silence victims of the guards’ abuse. One detainee recounted being so “severely beaten” for wanting to speak to a lawyer before signing documents that he ended up hospitalized and then in a wheelchair. He was then put in solitary confinement after he was returned to the camp. Three deaths have also been reported at the camp.

Risks Facing Transgender Detainees

Transgender activist Suzy Gerónimo shared her experience being detained for over a month in the Stewart Detention Center in Georgia. Stewart Detention Center is one of the largest ICE detention centers, housing over 1,700 people. Gerónimo is currently detained in the area for men and described facing “harassment, unsafe conditions, and a lack of staff who speak Spanish.” She explained that her treatment improved after her legal team advocated on her behalf; however, her experience highlights the specific risks transgender detainees face in immigration detention. President Trump signed an executive order “requiring that people in federal custody, including immigration detention, were housed in facilities according to the sex assigned at birth, rather than their gender identity.” Reports indicate that shortly afterwards, ICE modified “at least three contracts” with detention centers to eliminate care requirements for transgender detainees.

Hunger Strikes in Detention Centers

On May 20 an estimated 20-40 detainees held at the Adelanto ICE detention complex in the Mojave Desert in California launched a hunger strike. The detention facility is owned and run by the private prison company GEO Group, which has a $400 million contract with ICE. The strikers are demanding “the clean up of mold inside detention rooms, access to clean water and nutritious food, and the ability to speak with loved ones and advocates without retaliation” in addition to “accountability and investigations into the 18 deaths of immigrants in ICE custody nationwide so far this year.” California Department of Justice officials have inspected Adelanto and outlined evidence of overcrowding, delayed medical care, excessive use of force by guards, murky drinking water and lack of fresh water, lack of adequate clothing for detainees, and denied access to phones. Between September 2025 and March 2026, 4 people died at the Adelanto complex.

On May 21, detainees at Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey launched a hunger and labor strike, demanding “improved conditions and medical care, and for their immigration cases to be resolved.”  Detainees described “spoiled and expired food, sometimes containing live worms, as one form of inhumane treatment, alongside inadequate medical care, unsanitary housing, and complaints about ignored due process rights.” Guards retaliated against the strikers and pepper-sprayed a group of detainees who were trying to prevent the guards from removing a detainee who was translating for the strikers. Protestors and counterprotestors have gathered outside of the center, and state police have deployed tear gas and pepper ball pellets to disperse the crowd.

Immigration Restrictions and Policy Changes

On May 1, President Trump issued an executive order declaring that Cuba poses a “national security and foreign policy” threat to the U.S.and escalated sanctions to include “entities, persons, or affiliates that support the Cuban regime’s security apparatus, are complicit in government corruption or serious human rights violations, or are agents, officials, or material supporters of the Cuban government.” Also sanctioned are “persons, entities, or financial institutions that have conducted or facilitated transactions with persons or entities sanctioned under the Order.” Those sanctioned are also denied entry to the U.S.

On May 22, the Trump Administration issued a sweeping policy memo that, while vague in its language and scope, may force those seeking a green card to return to their home country and complete the application process from abroad. Normally, green card applicants already in the U.S. can adjust their status through the United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) while remaining in the country without having to leave and apply through consular processing with the Department of State. The Trump Administration’s new memo states that adjustment of status while in the U.S. should be treated as an “extraordinary form of relief” to be used in “extraordinary circumstances.” Without the option of adjustment of status, green card applicants would have to return to their home country and apply through a U.S. consulate. The memo is vague as to what would qualify as “extraordinary circumstances” and suggests a higher bar for the approval of adjustment of status applications, with applicants having to establish that their application warrants the discretion. While the memo initially suggested sweeping policy change, USCIS stated that adjustment of status will still be employed on a case-by-case basis and there would be exceptions for applicants demonstrating “economic benefit” or serving the “national interest.” This has created uncertainty and confusion not only for those about to begin the application process, but also for those who are already in the middle of their application process. This new policy would also be dangerous for those who cannot return to their home country due fear of persecution or torture or for those who are stateless. Additionally, for 75 countries, consular processing is not available, leaving these applicants with no way of applying for a green card under this new policy.

In late May, the Department of Homeland Security issued a new directive “instructing ICE to take additional steps to "crack down" on fraudulent asylum claims.” This would include policies to discourage attorneys from filing “false” asylum claims in court. To implement this new directiveICE may expand its enforcement tools, such as imposing fines, issuing cease-and-desist orders, and potentially bringing criminal charges.

In May 2026, reports show that  immigration courts began holding mass hearings in Chicago, Illinois and Boston and Chelmsford, Massachusetts in order to speed up deportations. Expanding upon an established practice of holding immigration hearings with dozens of immigrants at a time, the Justice Department has scheduled hearings with over 100 immigrants at one time. Allegedly these hearings have been targeting immigrants who do not have lawyers and the majority of these immigrants were originally scheduled for hearings in 2027, 2028, and 2029. Also targeted are individuals from certain countries like Somalia, Syria, and Iran. One attorney commented, “They're anticipating that the majority will not show up and they'll just be able to say that they completed X number of cases because they'll be in absentia orders of removal.” However, if everyone does show up for their hearing, immigration courts could be overwhelmed. While expanding the number of immigrants at these mass hearings, the DOJ is also hiring more immigration judges to oversee more mass hearings. The Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) announced that it recently hired 77 judges. The majority of the 77 who were recently hired were previously “ICE lawyers, prosecutors or in the military, as officers, judge advocates or other roles.” Experts are concerned that these mass hearings further hurt immigrants’ ability to exercise due process.

The mass hiring of immigration judges is also a cause for concern after the Trump Administration has ousted over 100 judges. Immigration judges are technically part of the executive branch and are expected to remain neutral, however, the hiring practices of the Administration call this neutrality into question. In job listings, the Administration has described these judges as “deportation judges” who will “deliver justice” to “criminal illegal aliens.” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche also stated that the Administration is “committed to reestablishing an immigration judge corps that is dedicated to restoring the rule to the law in our nation's immigration system…This could only happen thanks to President Trump's decisive leadership and commitment to securing our borders.” Experts are concerned that the Administration wants to “compel” judges to “act as tools of enforcement, not impartial adjudicators.” Senior Director for Government Relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association Greg Chen asserts that these job listings “are not fair or independent in the way we expect them to be but are completely controlled by a President who has stripped them of power and is using them to execute his mass deportation campaign.”

Third Country Deportations

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.

This month, Human Rights First and Refugees International issued a new report of findings from their Third Country Deportation Watch tracker. To date, more than 30 countries have entered into third country transfer agreements with the U.S. and more than 17, 500 people have been forcibly transferred to these countries where “many have no legal or personal ties, and many have been subjected to arbitrary detention, family separations, refoulement, and enforced disappearances.” Many of those who have been forcibly transferred had been granted protection and withholding of removal in the U.S. due to the risk of persecution and torture in their countries of origin. The Trump Administration has paid at least $44 million to these third countries to facilitate its transfer agreements. The Administration has also “threatened these countries with tariffs, other economic barriers, visa restrictions, and withholding U.S. funding for international organizations, as well as offering promises of aid as leverage” to obtain these agreements. President and CEO of Human Rights First, Uzra Zeya, stated “...the Trump administration has advanced a cruel and lawless foreign policy that treats human lives as bargaining chips, exposing people to refoulement, arbitrary detention, family separation, and other grave harms. Through its proliferating third country agreements, the United States is undermining refugee protections and sidestepping treaty obligations…The more than 30 countries pressured into these deals are not merely complicit—they are active partners in violating international law and eroding the norms that uphold it.”

Mexico

According to Human Rights First and Refugees International, the majority of people transferred to third countries are sent to Mexico. This month, Human Rights Watch issued a report which concluded that between January 20, 2025 and March 9, 2026, around 13,000 third-country nationals were deported to Mexico, the majority of which were Cuban (4,353 deportations). Reports have also documented ICE officers forcing non-Mexican asylum seekers across the Mexico border without any formal deportation process or identity documents. Testimonies describe officers shackling people, transporting them to the Santa Teresa border crossing in New Mexico, and transferring them to masked officers who threaten them with federal prosecution or “a jail cell in El Salvador or Africa” to force detainees over the border. Those forced over outside of official deportation channels are most likely not included in known numbers of those deported to Mexico.

Once in Mexico, these third country nationals received little to no support from the Mexico government and many found "themselves without access to shelter or food, and vulnerable to high levels of violence.” Mexican officials bus non-Mexicans found at the border to Villahermosa, Tabasco or to Tapachula, Chiapas. Cubans and Venezuelans are usually released on the street without any identification or ability to work. The lack of resources also makes it hard for these deportees to access an already limited asylum system and comply with procedural requirements. Cubans in particular are especially vulnerable because they are not accepted by Cuba for repatriation, making them effectively stateless if they cannot gain lawful status in Mexico. Apart from asylum (access to which is ineffective), third country nationals “have no clear legal status in Mexico” or “a path to permanent legal and social integration.” Cubans and Venezuelans are also vulnerable to “repeated detention, exploitation, and abuse by Mexican authorities and criminal groups, including robbery, kidnapping and rape.”  By contrast, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Salvadorans found at the border are usually deported by Mexican officials back to their countries of origin, regardless of the  persecution or torture they may face in those countries.

Sierra Leone

In late May, Sierra Leone received its first flight of 9 U.S. deportees as a result of a third country agreement with the Trump Administration. The government received $1.5 million to facilitate the agreement.  Under this agreement the Sierra Leone government would only accept West African nationals and only 25 deportees a month for a maximum of 300 a year. The deportees are currently being held in hotels before they are set to return to their home countries within 2 weeks. Sierra Leone has a history of human rights violations which include “arbitrary or unlawful killings, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, and arbitrary arrest or detention.” Additionally, the Sierra Leone asylum system is limited and refugees and asylum seekers struggle to gain access to lawful status and employment.

Analysis

Reports from May 2026 continue to provide evidence for a genocidal process unfolding in the U.S. which targets Black and Brown communities. ICE is still maintaining its goal of removing 1 million people in the coming year and continues to expand its surveillance technology contracts, collaboration with local police and sheriff offices, and detention center network. This will allow the Administration to escalate its unlawful arrest and detention of Black and Brown people based on racial profiling and perceived “criminality.”

Immigration detention centers continue to function as an internal concentration camp system where immigrants are detained in inhuman conditions with little to no opportunity for appeal or release until their eventual removal from the U.S. Cruelty in these detention centers is the point in order to coerce detainees into voluntary departure and as a form of collective punishment of entire communities the Administration has deemed “criminal.” The Administration is continuing to make it difficult to exercise oversight over these facilities as key watchdog offices are being closed and members of Congress are not given access to detainees. With rapidly decreasing oversight and avenues to report inhumane conditions and treatment, there is the fear that these detention facilities will quickly become “black boxes” with no information of operations or conditions reaching the outside world. Detainees have begun to exercise what few avenues of protest they have while in detention through hunger strikes to demand better conditions and accountability.

Additionally, reports continue to outline the horrific conditions facing U.S. deportees that are sent to a growing network of third countries. In this way, the Administration exchanges one containment system for another, as the sheer distance, circumstance, or actual continued incarceration keeps these deportees from returning to the U.S. Like the internal concentration camp system of ICE detention centers, cruelty is also the point of this emerging external containment system, as seen by federal agents dumping third country nationals across the Mexican border with no identification or resources.

The Trump Administration's gutting and reshaping of immigration policy and procedures continues to put immigrants at risk. Sweeping policy changes, like requiring green card applicants to return to their home country before they can adjust their status, is further evidence of the Administration intentionally instituting barriers designed to make lawful status less accessible or near impossible, thereby exposing more and more people to mass deportation operations. The mass firing of immigration judges and hiring of replacement judges intended to act as “deportation” judges and tools of the Administration in implementing their anti-immigrant crackdown is also cause for extreme concern. Also alarming is the new practice of holding mass immigration hearings further hurts the ability to exercise due process. The ramp-up of mass hearings and hiring of potentially biased judges to oversee mass hearings further solidifies immigration courts as a tool for mass deportation, especially with a target of 1 million deportations in the upcoming year.

The Administration’s multi-level system of agents on the ground, detention centers, immigration courts, policies, procedures, and third country networks continues to further its genocidal mass deportation project to remove Black and Brown communities from U.S. society. The Lemkin Institute continues to call for the dismantling of this genocidal system. Its architects and agents must be investigated and held accountable. The Institute supports detainees participating in hunger strikes, as this is one of the few avenues remaining to demand redress and accountability. Given the way in which the Trump Administration has gutted and reshaped the immigration legal landscape to support its mass deportation efforts, the Lemkin Institute also supports efforts to convert the immigration court system into an independent judiciary. As reports continue to outline the widespread domestic and international impact of the Trump Administration’s mass deportation efforts, there needs to be a concerted international effort to hold the U.S. government, its agents, and complicit third countries accountable for their role in carrying out mass human rights abuses that could amount to crimes against humanity and an unfolding genocidal process.

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