source: Austin Kocher / Human Rights firstrt
Human Rights First just released its latest ICE Flight Monitor report tracking deportation flights through October 2025. This project was originally started by Tom Cartwright over five years ago, and when Human Rights First absorbed it earlier this year, they took on one of the most important immigration data projects in our research ecosystem right now.
Under the current Trump administration’s aggressive deportation agenda, this data is an essential window into this otherwise largely invisible architecture of lawlessness, violence, and forced repatriation. We’re spending enormous amounts of public money on this part of the system, from $7,000 to $26,000 per flight hour according to the report, and yet it appears that many of these deportations may actually violate national or international law, let alone are conducted in fundamentally inhumane ways.
I want to share some of the main findings and my own key observations with you here as a way of encouraging you to learn more about this project. You can also sign up to get new monthly reports as they come available from Human Rights First.
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ICE Flight Tracker: Start with the Basics
Let’s start with the basics of the data we’re looking at. The ICE Flight Monitor tracks three types of immigration enforcement flights.
First are deportation flights that remove people from the U.S. to other countries. These include “third country” transfers, where the Trump administration is sending people to countries they’re not even citizens of, a tactic that’s both punitive and possibly illegal in many cases.
Second are domestic transfer flights, or “shuffle” flights, that move people between detention centers within the United States. These aren’t just about logistics. Transfers are a way for ICE to limit access to immigration attorneys, displace and confuse people in detention so they don’t even know where they are, and keep detainees compliant so they don’t speak up about their rights.
Third are removal-related flights that support the deportation apparatus but aren’t dedicated deportation or transfer flights, like when carriers move between hubs to set up for other operations.
These differences are important when trying to making sense of the data in the flight tracker, because, to be honest, it can get a bit overwhelming if you don’t hav a framework for conceptualizing this work first.
Records Numbers of Flights to Record Numbers of Countries
Like pretty much all enforcement metrics under this administration, the numbers are all record-breaking. Overall, the ICE Flight Monitor has documented over 10,672 total flights during the Trump administration so far. Most are those interior shuffle flights, but deportation flights are also well above previous highs. October alone saw a record 1,014 domestic shuffle flights—the highest on record—plus 199 deportation flights, which is above, but not quite as dramatically above, historic levels.
Altogether, the Trump administration has conducted 4,183 deportation and deportation-related flights since January. That more than the number conducted in FY 2024 (with three more months), when 3,483 deportation and deportation-related flights were conducted.
I would say that the deportation flights specifically are higher but not dramatically higher than the Biden administration. Where we really see the most dramatic increase is flights between detention facilities, which corresponds to the massive growth in that infrastructure. I still don’t think the Trump administration’s astronomical claims about deportation numbers are matching up to reality, but we are certainly seeing an increase in deportation flights overall.
The data on shuffle flights is a powerful compliment to my work on detention data and shows why we need multiple projects and partners working in tandem to understand the full scope and impact of the detention system. You can’t understand detention without understanding how people are being shuffled around the country, often deliberately to make it harder for them to access legal help. This is on top of locating detention centers in rural areas, which makes medical services, legal services, and contact with family members all much more difficult.
The geographic reach is also unprecedented, and reflects the deeper fact that the US deportation apparatus is a global apparatus, not just a national one. From January through October, the administration conducted removal flights to 77 countries—a 79 percent increase over the same period in 2024. That includes 24 countries that had never received ICE flights since tracking began in 2020, like Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Jordan, Pakistan, and Rwanda.
Inhumane Treatment on Deportation Flights
The enormous growth in flights is not the only concern. ICE’s practice of dehumanizing treatment and disregard for basic dignity extends to the treatment of people on these flights.
People on these flights are often restrained with handcuffs, waist chains, and leg irons for the entire journey, even when they pose no apparent security threat. Even worse is ICE’s use of something called the WRAP—a full-body restraint suit that prevents people from moving their arms or shifting position. Medical experts warn it can cause severe physical and psychological distress. According to the report, it’s been used as punishment when people ask to speak with their attorney or express fear of deportation. One man who was bound from shoulders to feet on a September military flight to Ghana reported lasting trauma and a leg injury that left him with a limp.
Flight attendants have reported that emergency procedures provide little guidance for evacuating restrained passengers. Some crew members say pilots told them during briefings that evacuating detained individuals in an emergency wasn’t even a priority.
And here’s the thing that should get more attention: many people on these flights don’t even have deportation orders. They may not have had their full day in court but are being deported anyway. Many people on these planes could be refugees or asylum seekers who might have qualified for protection if they’d been allowed to complete the legal process. I’ve written before that asylum grant rates are really low, so, sure, the changes are slimmer than ever, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay.
The Human Work Behind this Crucial Data
I want to say something about how this research actually happens, because when reports look this clean and polished, people assume it’s just numbers scraped off a website or obtained through some records request. The reality is much messier and more human, as anyone who actually does this work can attest.
I remember sitting down with Tom when he was looking for a home for this project. He walked me through how he does this work, and it’s incredibly impressive. It’s not just some grand automation project where you push a button and you get data back. It’s about really understanding how international flight tracking systems work, what different tracking platforms offer, how the government is trying to hide data about these flights, and developing deep knowledge about flight tracking around the entire world.
As I try to tell my students, the line between quantitative and qualitative research isn’t as bright as people think. There’s no data-driven research in the immigration space that isn’t also deeply qualitative, relying on subjective analytical decisions and specialized knowledge, not just algorithms and formulas. And this project profoundly illustrates that.
I’m grateful to everyone at Human Rights First for taking it on and ensuring it continues.
