New ICE Flight Monitor Report Shows Avelo Airlines Flew Nearly One in Five ICE Flights as part of Massive Expansion of ICE Domestic Transfer and Deportation Flights
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:
- Record Removal and Domestic Transfer Flights: From January 20 to December 31, ICE carried out 2,138 removal flights, a 44% increase from the same period in 2024, to 79 countries. Domestic transfer (“shuffle”) flights surged even more dramatically, increasing by 123% year over year and accounting for the majority of all enforcement flights. Removal flights expanded to 25 Sub-Saharan African countries, including first-time flights to Benin, Mali, Mozambique, Eswatini, and Rwanda. Removal flight destinations across Asia increased by 75%, reaching 14 destinations, including first-time removals to Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan.
- Removal Flights to Venezuela Paused in Mid-December: December saw three removal flights to Venezuela removing 654 people, before twice-weekly flights were suspended after December 10 (and have not resumed as of today). Since resuming in February 2025, the U.S. has carried out a total of 76 removal flights to Venezuela, deporting 14,310 people, including families and children.
- Continued Use of “Layover Transfer” Deportations to Iran and Russia: ICE Flight Monitor tracked continued third-country “layover transfer” removals, including a December 8 flight transferring Russian nationals via Egypt to Moscow and Iranian nationals via Kuwait to Tehran—part of a broader pattern of deportations to countries with strained diplomatic relations.
- Transfer Flights to Guantánamo Bay Offshore Detention Resume: ICE resumed flights to the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in December after a two-month pause. As of January 9, the detained migrant population at GTMO reached 54, the highest level since June 2025.
- Use of U.S. Coast Guard Aircraft Appears to Pause: ICE Flight Monitor did not track any Coast Guard-operated ICE flights after December 21. December saw a 58% drop in Coast Guard domestic transfer flights compared to November.
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.
