ICE Air Expands Deportation and Domestic Transfer Flights to Record Levels in First Year of Second Trump Administration

Washington, D.C. — ICE Air Operations has been dramatically expanded under the second Trump administration, operating with minimal transparency or public oversight. Human Rights First’s ICE Flight Monitor reports that from January 20, 2025, to January 20, 2026, the Trump administration conducted 2,253 deportation flights to 79 countries — a 46% increase in flights and a 76% increase in destinations compared to the last year of the Biden administration. Removal flights included 25 countries that had never previously received ICE flights, with record numbers to Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Read the full report here. 

Domestic transfer (“shuffle”) flights between detention centers and deportation staging facilities surged to 9,066, a 132% increase over the previous year, with ICE Air flying out of 35 new local airports. In January 2026, Minneapolis experienced a sharp increase, with 52 shuffle flights, tied to DHS’s Operation “Metro Surge” and Operation PARRIS, during which vetted refugees were unlawfully taken from their homes and flown to detention centers in Texas.

“The scale and brutality of ICE’s operations — whisking members of our communities off the streets and flying them to be staged for deportation without due process — is unconscionable,” said Savi Arvey, Director of Research and Analysis for Refugee Protection at Human Rights First. “ICE is operating with near-total impunity, without transparency or accountability, putting both community safety and fundamental human rights at risk. Behind every data point, every flight, is a person — someone separated from family in the United States, transferred across the country in shackles, or deported to a place where they may face danger.”

Key findings from January 2026 and one year of the second Trump administration include: 

• Record Removal Flights to 79 Countries: From January 20, 2025 to January 20, 2026, the administration conducted a record 2,253 removal flights—46% more than the previous year’s 1,544 flights. During this period, ICE flights reached 79 countries (up from 45), including first-time removals to 25 countries, with a surge in flights to Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Although overall removal flights increased in the first year of the second Trump administration, some countries—such as Guatemala and Ecuador—saw fewer individuals removed compared to Biden’s last year.

Removal flights remained high in January 2026, with 187 flights to 36 countries. Notably, January included the first recorded removal flight to Israel, carrying Palestinians from Phoenix, AZ to Tel Aviv, Israel. 

• Surge in Domestic Transfer (“Shuffle”) Flights: During the first year of the second Trump administration, domestic shuffle flights between detention centers and deportation staging facilities surged to 9,066, a 132% increase over the previous year, with ICE Air flying out of 35 new domestic destinations. In January 2026 alone, there were at least 1,100 shuffle flights, averaging 36 flights per day—up from just nine per day in January 2025.
• Dramatic Rise in Flights through Minneapolis, MN after “Metro Surge” and Operation PARRIS: In January 2026, 52 domestic shuffle flights departed Minneapolis – up from only two in January 2025. This surge is tied to DHS’s Operation “Metro Surge” and Operation PARRIS, under which individuals with already vetted and valid refugee status were unlawfully taken from their homes in Minnesota and transferred to detention centers in Texas.
• Air Wisconsin, a New Private Charter Airline, Expands the Domestic Transfer Flight Network: The project identified and confirmed that Air Wisconsin Airlines entered the ICE Air charter network after selling 13 aircraft to ICE’s broker, CSI Aviation, and beginning domestic transfer operations for ICE on January 15, 2026. In just the final two weeks of January, this new carrier conducted about 60 shuffle flights.
• Forced Third-Country Transfers Expand, Including First Flight of Non-Cameroonians to Cameroon and the second flight to Equatorial Guinea: Since January 20, 2025, the Trump administration has used forced third-country transfers to send individuals to at least 14 countries where they are not citizens. In January 2026, ICE Flight Monitor tracked two such flights, including the first flight carrying non-Cameroonians to Cameroon and the second flight to Equatorial Guinea.
• Continued “Layover-Transfer” Removal Flights to Countries with Strained Diplomatic Ties: ICE continued layover-transfer flights to Iran and Russia, with four flights to Russia and three to Iran by January 2026. These included layovers in Egypt, Qatar, and Kuwait, where individuals were transferred for the final leg to their countries of origin. U.S. deportation flights to Venezuela were initially routed through Honduras from February to mid-August 2025.

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.