The US paid Rwanda, Ghana, Eswatini, and South Sudan to accept deportees who are not their nationals, in deals a federal judge ruled unconstitutional. HRW called the expulsion agreements violations of international human rights law, and domestic lawsuits in Ghana challenge the deal's legality.
Rwanda agreed to accept up to 250 deportees from the US under a deal involving approximately $7.5 million in US financial support. Eswatini accepted up to 160 deportees for $5.1 million.
US District Judge Brian Murphy ruled the third-country deportation policy violates federal immigration law and migrants' constitutional right to due process.
Immigration enforcement separated at least 11,000 US citizen children from their parents, with children held in government custody for an average of six months while officials used reunification processes as traps to arrest parents and caregivers.
At least 11,000 US citizen children had a parent detained by ICE in the first seven months of Trump's second term -- an average of more than 50 children per day.
Children in ICE detention jumped more than sixfold compared to the Biden administration, from ~25 per day to ~170 per day.
The administration indefinitely suspended refugee resettlement and set the lowest admissions cap in US history at 7,500, prioritizing white Afrikaners, while stranding refugees mid-transit including families who had sold their belongings for the journey.
Executive order on January 20, 2025 indefinitely suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program effective January 27.
The FY 2026 refugee cap was set at 7,500 -- the lowest in US history, down from 125,000 under Biden -- with priority given to white South African Afrikaners.
DHS Secretary Noem terminated Venezuela TPS, and the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect, de-documenting approximately 350,000 people and exposing them to removal to a country the State Department itself has characterized as unstable and dangerous.
DHS Secretary Noem terminated TPS for Venezuela under the 2023 designation on February 5, 2025.
Approximately 350,000 Venezuelans lost legal status and work authorization.
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Updated September 3, 2025Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingActive litigation
The administration invoked a rarely used 1798 wartime statute to justify accelerated removals of Venezuelan nationals, including transfers into El Salvador's detention system, prompting immediate litigation over both process and statutory scope.
The proclamation treated Tren de Aragua activity as an 'invasion' or 'predatory incursion' under the Alien Enemies Act.
The government used the proclamation to argue for removals with sharply reduced individualized process.
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Updated June 6, 2025Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingActive litigation
Federal officials removed Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador despite a preexisting withholding order barring that destination, then spent weeks litigating what it meant to 'facilitate' his return after the Supreme Court intervened.
An immigration judge had already barred Abrego Garcia's removal to El Salvador.
Public reporting said he was transferred into El Salvador's CECOT prison system.