Press Release
Published on January 12, 2026
Washington D.C. — A new report from Human Rights First’s ICE Flight Monitor reveals the unprecedented scale, scope, and secrecy of the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign during its first 11 months in office.
The report finds that Avelo Airlines – the only ICE Air subcontractor to also sell commercial tickets to travelers – operated nearly one in five U.S. immigration enforcement flights between May and December 2025. ICE Flight Monitor revealed the airports where Avelo’s ICE flights were departing from and the scale of its operations, informing protests in communities across the country, prior to the carrier’s announcement that it would be ending its ICE Air flights. Between May and December, Avelo carried out 1,945 ICE Air flights, accounting for 18 percent of all U.S. immigration enforcement flights during that period.
“Avelo became a central private subcontractor in a system designed to profit out of detention and deportation, turning due process violations and the ripping apart of families into revenue,” said Savi Arvey, Director of Research and Analysis for Refugee Protection at Human Rights First. “Airline carriers, contractors, and government agencies are complicit in sustaining this system.”
The Avelo findings are part of a broader picture documented by ICE Flight Monitor showing that, since January 20, 2025, the Trump administration has dramatically escalated immigration enforcement flights nationwide and globally. From January 20 through December 31, the administration conducted 13,446 immigration enforcement flights, the highest total since flight tracking began in 2020 and an 84 percent increase over the same period in 2024.
“These numbers expose a detention and deportation machine operating at a scale we have never seen before,“ added Arvey. “ICE Flight Monitor exists because the government refuses to be transparent. Our data sheds light on a system that is not only cruel, but increasingly lawless.”
Key findings from the December 2025 report include:
Read the full report here.
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About ICE Flight Monitor
ICE Flight Monitor provides transparent, data-driven reporting on U.S. immigration enforcement flights operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and partner agencies. By exposing flight activity that the government refuses to disclose, the project strengthens public accountability and shines a light on the human costs of mass deportation.
