Fwd: ICE Flight Monitor Monthly Report: August 2025
Molly Molloy
Executive Summary
Since taking office on January 20, 2025, the Trump administration has pursued an unprecedented mass deportation agenda. U.S. officials have adopted a range of new tactics to achieve this objective, including expanding the use of expedited removal, sending people from the United States to offshore detention facilities in the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo, terminating protected legal statuses, disappearing people without due process including to a high security prison in El Salvador, and forcibly transferring individuals to other countries of which they are not citizens. These actions, many of which have been determined to be unlawful by federal courts, have been carried out with little to non-existent transparency, while thousands of people’s lives are uprooted from communities across the country and their rights are systematically violated.
ICE Flight Monitor responds to this lawlessness and lack of information by using publicly available aviation data to monitor and document flights conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), including deportation flights and domestic transfers between U.S. detention centers and deportation staging facilities. The methodology is grounded in Tom Cartwright’s nearly six years of independent work that tracked tens of thousands of ICE flights. To ensure the accuracy and integrity of the findings, the ICE Flight Monitor cross-references flight data with public records, media reports, and observations from trusted partner organizations. The project also tracks other relevant air operations—such as military planes involved in immigration enforcement and Mexican and Panamanian government deportation flights. ICE routinely carries out additional removals on commercial flights, which ICE Flight Monitor is unable to track.
The ICE Flight Monitor reports the following top findings for August 2025:
- Increasing Number of Total U.S. Immigration Enforcement Flights Under the Trump Administration: Under the second Trump administration, U.S. immigration enforcement flights have increased significantly. From January 20 to August 31, 2025, the Trump administration carried out at least 7,454 total U.S. immigration enforcement flights. This number includes removal flights, removal-related flights2, and domestic transfer (“shuffle”) flights. The vast majority of these flights are carried out by ICE Air charter planes, but a small number are carried out on Air Force cargo planes, Coast Guard aircraft, or by airline carriers operated by other countries. On U.S. immigration enforcement flights, individuals are generally restrained by handcuffs, waist chains, and leg irons, including during any layovers and fuel stops, raising concerns about conditions. The 7,454 total is the largest number of immigration enforcement flights for the period of January 20 – August 31 since tracking began in 2020 and constitutes a 34 percent increase over the same time period in 2024 (see Figure 1). In August 2025 alone, the ICE Flight Monitor tracked the highest monthly total of at least 1,393 U.S. immigration enforcement flights—averaging 45 flights a day.
- Monthly Removal Flight Record in August Due to Increase in Flights to Mexico: Throughout this year, the number of removal flights has steadily increased, reaching a record of at least 240 removal flights in August 2025, the highest monthly total recorded since at least 2020. This increase was due to the rise of removal flights to Mexico in August, since flights to countries other than Mexico decreased from prior months. August 2025 brings the total number of removal flights under the Trump administration to at least 1,279 flights, a 20 percent increase from the same period in 2024. While removal flights were primarily carried out on ICE Air charter flights, the administration has also conducted at least 85 removal flights on military cargo planes.
- Removal Flights to New Destinations and Increased Multi-Country Flights: Over the past eight months, the Trump administration has conducted removal flights to at least 66 countries, with the vast majority of flights being carried out to Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and El Salvador. While these are historically common destinations, the administration also conducted a small number of removal flights to new destinations. For the first time since flight tracking began, flights departed the United States during the second Trump administration for countries such as Greece, Pakistan, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Chile, and Kazakhstan. The administration increased the use of multi-country removal flights—where a single flight removes individuals to several countries in a region. These multi-country flights have left some individuals shackled for more than 30 hours, raising serious human rights concerns.
- Third Country Transfers Continue with First Flight to Rwanda: The Trump administration pursued agreements with a range of countries to facilitate third-country transfers—which send individuals to nations of which they are not citizens and often have no ties. In August 2025, ICE Flight Monitor tracked the first flight to Rwanda under a newly established U.S.–Rwanda agreement. In previous months, third-country flights also landed in Eswatini, South Sudan, Uzbekistan, El Salvador, Panama, and Costa Rica. The legality of these transfers—particularly without notice or an opportunity to contest the removal based on fear of persecution—is currently being challenged in U.S. federal courts.
- Domestic Transfer Flight Monthly Record and Continued Flights to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base: Before removal, individuals are often moved repeatedly between ICE detention centers and staging facilities via domestic “shuffle flights.” These frequent transfers not only disorient individuals but also make it significantly harder for them to access legal counsel and maintain contact with family. Between January 20 and August 31, 2025, the Trump administration carried out at least 4,422 shuffle flights—a 43 percent increase from the same period in 2024—including a monthly record of 805 flights in August 2025 alone. Among them were at least 81 flights to offshore detention facilities at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay Naval Base—six of which occurred in August. At the military base, individuals are detained thousands of miles from the United States and face abuse and mistreatment.
These findings make clear that the Trump administration’s current deportation campaign is both unprecedented and dangerous, not only to the rights of those it targets, but also to our democracy. The ICE Flight Monitor delivers accessible and reliable data to strengthen public accountability and uphold transparency. Download the full report below.
From: Savi Arvey <Arv...@humanrightsfirst.org>
Date: Thu, Sep 11, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Subject: ICE Flight Monitor Monthly Report: August 2025
Savi
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Savi Arvey Director, Research and Analysis, Refugee Protection |
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