ICE Flight Monitor’s September Report Reveals Alarming Increases in Deportation & Domestic Transfer Flights Amidst the Trump Administration's Cruel Mass Deportation Campaign

Washington, D.C. — Today, ICE Flight Monitor, housed at Human Rights First, released its latest monthly report, which reveals that the Trump administration conducted at least 331 removal flights to 38 countries in September, slightly more than the totals over the previous two months. This continued increase is largely driven by removal flights to Mexico, making up 35% (116 flights) of September’s removal flight total. These flights are separating families across the country and making it harder for people to secure legal counsel; many of these flights are taking place without due process and pose serious safety and security risks for the people being removed.

Additionally, ICE Flight Monitor has noted a dramatic increase in ICE Air domestic shuffle flights under the second Trump administration, with both the scale and reach of these flights expanding in September. Shuffle flights take people between detention centers across the U.S., often isolating them far away from their communities, their loved ones, and their legal counsel. These flights often take people thousands of miles away from their home, often without notifying their lawyer, or updating their location in ICE’s public tracking system. Several U.S. states are now seeing a growing number of these flights across multiple cities.

In September, ICE Flight Monitor tracked nine flights carrying third country nationals to six countries, including to the Dominican Republic and Guyana for the first time, as well as repeated flights to Ghana, Costa Rica, Panama and Paraguay. These flights forcibly transfer people—including those who were already granted protections by U.S. immigration judges—to places where they have no connection and they are at risk of persecution, harm, and even refoulement to the very places they escaped.

“Community members across the country, many of whom are in ongoing immigration processes, live with the debilitating fear that at any moment, they could be taken from their loved ones, and forced onto a plane taking them to a detention center thousands of miles away, or to a country they have never set foot in,” said Savi Arvey, Director of Policy, Refugee and Immigrant Rights at Human Rights First. “The Trump administration’s cruel deportation campaign subjects people to egregious harms—horrific conditions in detention centers, shuffle flights in the middle of the night to destinations unknown, removal to places where their lives are at imminent risk, and separation from their families. It is a policy that is designed to instill terror in the lives of our neighbors, friends and loved ones.

Key Findings from September Include:

• In September, the Trump administration conducted 331 removal flights to 38 countries, a 48% increase from September 2025, largely driven by a continued increase in removal flights to Mexico, as well as flights to Guatemala and Honduras together accounting for roughly a third of all removal flights.
• Removal flights to Haiti have increased to once per week (four times more than their previous pace of once/month) after the end of Temporary Protected Status for 350,000 Haitians living in the United States, despite U.S. State Department and UNHCR warnings against returns due to severe security and humanitarian risks. Removal flights to Venezuela have also increased to twice per week, despite recent natural disasters that have exacerbated the insecurity and instability of the country
• This month, the administration carried out nine forced third country transfer flights to six countries – including the first-time transfers to the Dominican Republic and Guyana, as well as repeated transfers to Ghana, Costa Rica, Panama and Paraguay. September saw an 11-day pause in forced transfers of third country nationals due to a federal court ruling deeming the practice unlawful on September 18. However, such transfers have resumed following the U.S. Supreme Court stay, with ICE flights continuing to forcibly carry third country nationals to destinations across Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa, to places where people are at imminent risk of persecution, harm, arbitrary detention, or refoulement to their country of origin.
• Domestic ICE Air transfer (“shuffle”) flights have expanded in scale and geographic reach under the second Trump administration, with airports in 10 new Florida cities now serving shuffle flights, in addition to Miami and Jacksonville. Major increases were also seen in the DMV region (+300%), Pennsylvania (+365%), Alabama, and California, reflecting broader escalations in the Trump administration’s cruel mass deportation and detention agenda.
• Under the Trump administration, Alexandria, Louisiana remains the primary hub for removal flights taking people to places where they face harm and persecution– with over 400 flights in September – including 316 domestic shuffle flights and 122 deportation flights through the deportation hub. Advocates, Louisiana residents, and child welfare experts have raised the alarm about a new detention facility that is slated to open adjacent to the airport to hold children and families. Such a detention facility would inflict further trauma on children and families, expose them to contamination from chemicals detected at the site, and violate due process rights.

Read the September 2026 report here and explore the dashboard here.

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. Founded on the methodology pioneered by researcher Tom Cartwright, the project provides transparent, data-driven reporting to strengthen accountability and inform the public about the human and democratic costs of mass deportation policies. Our public interactive ICE Flight Monitor Dashboard enables users to visualize common routes and patterns, track historical deportation flight trends, and look up recent deportation flights to specific countries.

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To speak with Arvey, please contact press@humanrightsfirst.org.