Press Release
Published on June 18, 2026
Washington, D.C. — Today, ICE Flight Monitor, housed at Human Rights First, released its latest monthly report, with May 2026 showing the continued escalation of the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign. ICE Flight Monitor tracked a record 288 removal flights in May, driven by a continued surge in removal flights to Mexico, an expansion of forced third country transfers, and continued high domestic transfer flight volumes. These flights are conducted without due process and in violation of the rights of the individuals being removed—many of whom are in ongoing immigration or asylum proceedings.
Read the full report here. ICE Flight Monitor will soon launch a public interactive dashboard, offering viewers a more current view of ICE Air flight patterns and historical trends.
"We continue our work to expose a cruel and expansive ICE Air system that is opaque by design," said Savi Arvey, Director of Research and Analysis, Refugee and Immigrant Rights at Human Rights First. "Every one of these flights represents a family torn apart, a person ripped from their home, and rights trampled in silence. By tracking and documenting these unlawful removal flights, we make it harder for the government to disappear people without accountability."
Key findings from May 2026 include:
U.S. removal flights reached a record 288 flights to 38 countries, largely driven by a continued increase in removal flights to Mexico, as part of the Trump administration's cruel and lawless deportation campaign. The spike in removal flights over recent months does not necessarily indicate that more individuals are being removed, only that the quantity of flights is increasing. Guatemala and Honduras continue to receive large numbers of removal flights, together accounting for about 30% of May's total.
Removal flights to central and southern Mexico surged to a new high of 108 in May as deportations of Mexican nationals over the U.S.-Mexico land border appear to remain largely paused. Beginning in mid-April, removal flights to Mexico ramped up dramatically. As in April, this spike appears linked to a near-total pause in deportations of Mexican nationals over the land border. The apparent intent of removing most Mexican nationals via ICE Air instead of the land border is to make re-crossing into the United States harder, by removing individuals farther into Mexico's interior, including central and southern cities. Importantly, the increase in removal flights to Mexico does not necessarily indicate that more Mexican nationals are being removed.
Forced third country transfers continued to escalate, with first-time flights in May to Saint Kitts and Nevis and Sierra Leone, and continued flights to Costa Rica, Panama, Paraguay, Ghana and Cameroon. Over the past several months, the United States has removed third country nationals to an expanding list of destination countries through a variety of bilateral agreements. For more information see Banished by Bargain: Third Country Deportation Watch for more information on third country transfers, including country agreements.
Removal flights on U.S. military aircraft resumed on June 4, 2026, after pausing in mid-September 2025. So far in June, five U.S. military removal flights have departed Harlingen, Texas for San Pedro Sula, Honduras, with at least two flights — including the first on June 4 — removing third country nationals from the United States. Between January and September 2025, there were 88 removal flights on U.S. military planes; the recent June flights bring the total under the second Trump administration to 93.
Deportation flights conducted on Colombian Air Force planes have paused, with the last such flight occurring on May 7. From January 2025 through early May 2026, the Colombian government conducted a total of 68 removal flights using Colombian Air Force planes to repatriate its nationals, following President Gustavo Petro's objections to the treatment of Colombian citizens on ICE Air flights. Beginning in June 2025, both ICE Air charters and Colombian Air Force planes removed Colombian nationals to Colombia. However, removal flights on Colombian Air Force planes ceased on May 7, a pause likely linked to Colombia's polarized political landscape amid its current presidential elections.
Read the report here.
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About ICE Flight Monitor: ICE Flight Monitor uses publicly available aviation data to track U.S. immigration enforcement flights operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and partner agencies. The project provides transparent, data-driven reporting to strengthen accountability and expose the human costs of mass deportation.
