Tom Homan

Border Czar / Acting ICE Director

Appointed as "border czar" in January 2025. Oversaw the dramatic expansion of immigration enforcement including the rescission of the sensitive locations policy (allowing ICE raids on churches, schools, hospitals), record deportation flights to 79 countries, workplace raids, and the expansion of the detention system to record levels.

Linked Incidents

13 Total incidents
1 War Crime / Crime Against Humanity
5 Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern
7 Serious Rights Violation
2 probable 10 potential 1 enabling
Updated March 25, 2026 Deportation & Immigration
Serious Rights Violation Ongoing Official executive action

Rescission of ICE Sensitive Locations Policy — Churches, Schools, and Hospitals Open to Raids

The rescission of the sensitive locations policy removed decades-old protections for churches, schools, hospitals, courthouses, and shelters from immigration enforcement. The change unleashed a dramatic surge in arrests of non-criminal immigrants and chilled access to essential services including healthcare and education.

  • On January 20, 2025, the Trump administration rescinded the DHS Protected Areas policy via executive order 'Protecting the American People Against Invasion,' removing protections for churches, schools, hospitals, courthouses, shelters, and childcare facilities from ICE operations.
  • Arrests of people with no criminal record surged 2,450% in Trump's first year — from 6% of ICE detainees in January 2025 to 41% by December 2025.
Sources
7
Documents
0
Updates
0
Updated February 1, 2026 Deportation & Immigration
Serious Rights Violation Ongoing Official executive action

ICE Workplace Raids and Mass Arrests at Job Sites

ICE conducted at least 40 workplace raids with over 1,100 arrests in seven months, including the largest single-site raid in DHS history at a Hyundai plant in Georgia (475 arrests). The raids triggered diplomatic incidents and devastated communities dependent on immigrant labor.

  • At least 40 publicly reported ICE worksite enforcement actions in the first seven months of the administration, resulting in over 1,100 arrests.
  • The Hyundai Metaplant raid in Ellabell, Georgia (September 4, 2025) was the largest single-site immigration raid in DHS history, with 475 arrests.
Sources
6
Documents
0
Updates
0
Updated February 28, 2026 Deportation & Immigration
Serious Rights Violation Ongoing Reported record

Record Expansion of ICE Deportation Flights to 79 Countries

ICE Air conducted 2,253 deportation flights to 79 countries in one year -- a 46% increase over the Biden era -- including to 25 countries that had never received ICE flights. Domestic transfer flights surged 132%. Airlines increasingly concealed flight details from public tracking.

  • 2,253 deportation flights to 79 countries from January 20, 2025 to January 20, 2026 -- a 46% increase in flights and 76% increase in destinations.
  • Removal flights included 25 countries that had never previously received ICE deportation flights.
Sources
5
Documents
0
Updates
0
Updated March 25, 2026 Deportation to Torture
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern Ongoing Reported record

Record ICE Detention Deaths and Medical Care Payment Halt

46 deaths in ICE custody since January 2025 mark a two-decade high. ICE's October 2025 halt of medical care payments left detainees without access to health services as the detention population reached record levels, creating conditions that contributed to preventable deaths.

  • 46 people have died in ICE custody or detention facilities since January 2025 — a two-decade high, with 2025 seeing the highest death rate (5.6 per 10,000 detainees) since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
  • ICE halted payments to medical care contractors in October 2025 after the VA terminated a longstanding reimbursement agreement, leaving detention facilities without funded medical services.
Sources
8
Documents
0
Updates
0
Updated March 24, 2026 Deportation & Immigration
Serious Rights Violation Ongoing Reported record

Family Separations and Prolonged Child Detention Under Immigration Enforcement

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.
Sources
7
Documents
0
Updates
0
Updated March 25, 2026 Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern Ongoing Active litigation

Systematic Elimination of Bond Hearings and Indefinite Immigration Detention

An ICE directive and BIA precedential decision eliminated bond hearings for millions of immigrants, creating a system of indefinite detention without judicial review. 71.7% of the 57,861 ICE detainees had no criminal convictions.

  • On July 8, 2025, Acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons issued a memo declaring that immigrants who entered without inspection are no longer eligible for bond hearings.
  • On September 5, 2025, the BIA ruled in Matter of Yajure Hurtado that immigration judges lack authority to conduct bond hearings for anyone present 'without admission' -- even those who have lived in the US for decades.
Sources
6
Documents
0
Updates
0
Updated September 3, 2025 Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern Ongoing Active litigation

Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act to Accelerate Venezuelan Deportations

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.
Sources
9
Documents
1
Updates
0
Updated June 6, 2025 Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern Ongoing Active litigation

Kilmar Abrego Garcia Deported to El Salvador Despite Withholding Order

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.
Sources
8
Documents
0
Updates
2
Updated March 25, 2026 Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against Humanity Ongoing Reported record

Secret Deportation of 260+ Venezuelans to CECOT Mega-Prison

Over 260 Venezuelans were secretly deported to CECOT, where HRW documented torture, sexual violence, prolonged incommunicado detention, and denial of basic necessities. Many deportees had no criminal history and were asylum seekers.

  • 260+ Venezuelan nationals were secretly deported to CECOT between March and April 2025, without notice to families or attorneys, constituting enforced disappearance under international law.
  • HRW's 'You Have Arrived in Hell' report documented regular and severe physical abuse, sexual violence (at least 3 cases including forced oral sex), psychological abuse, and prolonged incommunicado detention.
Sources
6
Documents
2
Updates
0
Updated March 26, 2026 Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern Reported record

Midnight Deportation of 76 Guatemalan Children: Labor Day Weekend Mass Removal Attempt

The administration attempted a mass deportation of unaccompanied minor children in the middle of the night during a holiday weekend, circumventing legal protections that require children to appear before an immigration judge. A federal judge halted the operation after being awakened at 2:35 AM, but one plane had already taken off before turning around.

  • On August 31, 2025 (Labor Day weekend), 76 unaccompanied Guatemalan children in US government custody were roused from their beds around 1:00 AM and put on three planes for deportation to Guatemala.
  • HHS began contacting shelter care providers around 10:00 PM Central time on August 30, ordering them to prepare children for immediate discharge. Children were shaken from sleep and told to pack their belongings.
Sources
12
Documents
0
Updates
0
Updated December 15, 2025 Deportation & Immigration
Serious Rights Violation Ongoing Reported record

Deportation of US Military Veterans

The administration deported US military veterans including Purple Heart recipients wounded in combat, after replacing Biden-era protections that required ICE to consider military service. An estimated 94,000 non-citizen veterans face potential deportation.

  • An estimated 94,000 US military veterans lack citizenship, leaving them vulnerable to detention and deportation.
  • In April 2025, the Trump administration replaced Biden-era guidance requiring ICE to consider military service before arrests with a memo stating service alone 'doesn't automatically exempt aliens from the consequences of violating U.S. law.'
Sources
7
Documents
0
Updates
0
Updated July 15, 2025 Deportation & Immigration
Serious Rights Violation Ongoing Official executive action

Reimposition of 'Remain in Mexico' Migrant Protection Protocols

The administration reinstated 'Remain in Mexico,' forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexican cities that the US State Department itself rates as 'Level 4: Do Not Travel' due to kidnapping and violence. MSF documented kidnapping rates as high as 75% among those returned under the policy.

  • DHS reinstated MPP on January 21, 2025, forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexican border cities while their cases are processed in US immigration courts.
  • MSF documented that in one border city, 75% of MPP patients had been kidnapped while waiting in Mexico under the policy.
Sources
6
Documents
0
Updates
0
Updated December 22, 2025 Deportation & Immigration
Serious Rights Violation Ongoing Reported record

Deportation Traps at Immigration Court Hearings and Systematic Denial of Due Process

ICE turned mandatory immigration court hearings into arrest traps, coordinating in real time with government attorneys to arrest immigrants whose cases were dismissed. Record-setting asylum denials, in absentia orders tripling to 50,000, and 'rocket dockets' processing cases too fast for legal representation destroyed systematic access to due process.

  • ICE agents arrested immigrants at mandatory immigration court hearings, using case dismissals as triggers for arrest in a coordinated 'deportation trap.'
  • Government attorneys and ICE officers coordinated in real time, with agents in hallways waiting to identify and arrest individuals whose cases were dismissed.
Sources
6
Documents
0
Updates
0