Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

ICE Launches Operation Buckeye in Ohio, Targeting Afghan Refugees Who Fled Taliban and Entered Through Legal CBP One Program

| Importance: 9/10

Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched “Operation Buckeye” on December 16, 2025, in Columbus and throughout Ohio, officially characterizing the enforcement action as targeting “the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens” with convictions for felony drug possession, …

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Seven Die in ICE Custody in December, Four Within Four Days, Deadliest Year Since 2004

| Importance: 9/10

Seven people die in ICE custody in December 2025, with four deaths occurring within a four-day span from December 12-15, making it the deadliest month of Trump’s second term. The deaths occur as ICE holds a record 68,000+ people in detention, and 2025 becomes the deadliest year for ICE custody …

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7th Circuit Blocks Release of 615 Immigrants One Day Before Court-Ordered Deadline

| Importance: 9/10

On November 20, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit granted an emergency administrative stay blocking the release of up to 615 immigrants detained in the Chicago area, just one day before they were scheduled to be freed under a federal district court order. The appellate …

7th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jeffrey Cummings Trump Administration Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) +2 more judicial-oversight appeals-court immigration-enforcement consent-decree operation-midway-blitz +4 more
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ICE Bans Prayer Outside Broadview Detention Center

| Importance: 9/10

Federal officials told faith leaders gathered outside the Broadview ICE detention center in Illinois that ’there is no more prayer in front of building or inside the building because this is the state and it’s not [of a] religious background.’ The directive marked the third time …

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Department of Homeland Security Michael Pfleger Thomas Mills Tricia McGlaughlin +1 more ice religious-freedom first-amendment detention immigration +4 more
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Federal Judge Rules Border Patrol Commander Bovino Lied Under Oath, Issues Sweeping Use-of-Force Injunction

| Importance: 10/10

On November 6, 2025, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued a devastating preliminary injunction against Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino and federal immigration enforcement agents in Chicago, explicitly finding that Bovino “admitted that he lied” about the October 23, 2025 tear gas …

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DHS Posts Halo Video Game Image Comparing Immigrants to Parasitic Aliens Requiring Extermination

| Importance: 9/10

On October 27, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security posted an image from the Halo video game franchise showing Master Chief and a Spartan in a Warthog vehicle with the text “DESTROY THE FLOOD” as an ICE recruitment advertisement. The post was captioned “Finishing this …

Department of Homeland Security Kaelan Dorr Marcus Lehto Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) White House department-of-homeland-security ice troll-culture dehumanization recruitment +3 more
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ICE Deports Man to Laos Despite Federal Court Order Blocking Removal, Ignoring Torture and Persecution Risk

| Importance: 9/10

On October 25, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Chanthila “Shawn” Souvannarath, 44, to Laos in direct violation of a federal court order issued just one day earlier. Chief Judge Shelly D. Dick of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana had issued a …

Chanthila "Shawn" Souvannarath Chief Judge Shelly D. Dick Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ACLU of Louisiana Trump Administration +1 more ice court-defiance rule-of-law-erosion deportation torture +5 more
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DHS Uses Multi-Year Reconciliation Funding to Pay 70,000 Immigration Enforcement Officers During Shutdown While 700,000 Federal Workers Go Unpaid

| Importance: 8/10

During the fourth week of the October 2025 government shutdown affecting over 700,000 federal employees, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced that approximately 70,000 Department of Homeland Security law enforcement officers—including ICE deportation officers, CBP border patrol agents, Secret Service …

Kristi Noem Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Secret Service +2 more government-shutdown institutional-capture immigration-enforcement accountability-crisis budget-reconciliation +1 more
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Ring partners with Flock Safety and Axon, reversing privacy commitments and expanding police surveillance

| Importance: 9/10

Amazon’s Ring announced partnerships with both Flock Safety and Axon, marking a dramatic reversal of its January 2024 commitment to limit police access to user footage. The partnerships enable law enforcement agencies to request Ring doorbell camera footage through third-party platforms …

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ICE Homeland Security Investigations Signs $3 Million Contract with Magnet Forensics for GrayKey Technology

| Importance: 7/10

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit signs a $3 million contract with Magnet Forensics, the Canadian firm that acquired Grayshift in 2023 following its $1.35 billion acquisition by investment firm Thoma Bravo. The contract continues ICE’s …

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ICE Launches Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago, Appoints Bovino as Commander-at-Large

| Importance: 9/10

On September 8, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the launch of “Operation Midway Blitz,” a massive multi-agency immigration enforcement surge targeting Illinois and northwest Indiana. The operation marked a significant escalation in urban immigration enforcement …

Gregory Bovino Kristi Noem Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Tom Homan +3 more gregory-bovino operation-midway-blitz ice-enforcement chicago border-patrol +5 more
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Flock Safety Admits Federal Immigration Agents Have Direct Access to Tracking Data, Pauses Pilot

| Importance: 9/10

Flock Safety publicly admits that federal immigration agents have had direct access to automated license plate reader data through a previously undisclosed pilot program with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), giving federal authorities access to more …

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ICE blocks members of Congress from detention facilities, violating oversight law

| Importance: 8/10

ICE denied multiple members of Congress access to immigration detention facilities across the country, including Rep. Jason Crow at Aurora, Colorado and six Maryland Democrats at Baltimore’s Fallon Federal Building. Despite a 2019 law guaranteeing congressional access for oversight, ICE …

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Department of Homeland Security Rep. Jason Crow Sen. Chris Van Hollen Sen. Angela Alsobrooks +5 more congressional-oversight ice-detention transparency-failure rule-of-law immigration-enforcement
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Federal judge orders stop to "indiscriminate" ICE raids in Los Angeles

| Importance: 8/10

Federal Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued a landmark ruling ordering the Trump administration to stop indiscriminate immigration sweeps in Southern California. The ruling came after the ACLU brought a case alleging unconstitutional arrests and denial of attorney access. The judge found …

Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Department of Homeland Security U.S. District Court Central District of California ACLU of Southern California immigration-enforcement ice judicial-intervention racial-profiling constitutional-violation +4 more
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ICE terminates $73 million no-bid contract after improper influence allegations

| Importance: 8/10

ICE terminated a $72.9 million no-bid contract with Universal Strategic Advisors after competitor protests exposed “improper influence” in securing the deal. The company’s executives, Brian DeMore and David Marin, were previously sued for fabricating criminal evidence while at DHS. …

Universal Strategic Advisors Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Brian DeMore David Marin Timothy Robbins +1 more no-bid-contracts corruption improper-influence revolving-door contract-fraud
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28-year-old political operative appointed ICE Deputy Director despite lacking required experience

| Importance: 9/10

Madison Sheahan, a 28-year-old former aide to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem with no law enforcement experience, was appointed ICE Deputy Director on March 9, 2025. Federal law requires the ICE Director to have “a minimum of 5 years professional experience in law enforcement, and a minimum of 5 …

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Private Prison Stocks Soar After Trump's 2024 Victory: CoreCivic Up 29%, GEO Group Up 42% in Single Session

| Importance: 9/10

Following Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory, private prison stocks experience their second massive surge after a Trump win. CoreCivic stock jumps 29% and GEO Group vaults 42% in a single trading session as investors bet on profits from Trump’s pledge to carry out “the largest …

Donald Trump CoreCivic GEO Group Tom Homan Wall Street investors +1 more private-prison trump-administration immigration-detention mass-deportation wall-street +4 more
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ICE whistleblower faces retaliation after reporting weapons violations at detention facility

| Importance: 8/10

Carlo Jimenez, a Navy Iraq War veteran and ICE supervisory detention officer, reported weapons violations after an officer distributed pocketknives to staff at Montgomery Processing Center in December 2022. Despite weapons being banned, leadership took no action. After Jimenez reported to DHS …

Carlo Jimenez Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Department of Homeland Security OIG Merit Systems Protection Board whistleblower-retaliation cover-up weapons-violations detention-misconduct
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Biden Signs Executive Order 14006 to End Federal Private Prison Contracts, But Excludes Immigration Detention

| Importance: 7/10

President Joe Biden signs Executive Order 14006, titled “Reforming Our Incarceration System to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities,” directing the Attorney General to not renew Department of Justice contracts with privately operated prisons. The order …

Joe Biden Department of Justice Bureau of Prisons U.S. Marshals Service CoreCivic +2 more private-prison biden-administration executive-order prison-reform immigration-detention +1 more
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Rep. Pramila Jayapal Launches Congressional Inquiry Into McKinsey's ICE Contracts and Detention Recommendations

| Importance: 7/10

U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Vice Chair of the House Judiciary Committee on Immigration and Citizenship, writes to Kevin Sneader, Global Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company, demanding detailed information about the firm’s work with ICE. The letter requests specific …

Pramila Jayapal McKinsey & Company Kevin Sneader House Judiciary Committee Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) mckinsey consulting-scandal congressional-oversight immigration-enforcement detention-conditions +2 more
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ProPublica Exposes McKinsey's ICE Work Through FOIA Lawsuit: 1,500 Pages Reveal Detention Cost-Cutting Proposals

| Importance: 9/10

ProPublica publishes a bombshell investigation co-published with The New York Times revealing the full extent of McKinsey’s controversial work with ICE, based on 1,500 pages of documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The documents expose that McKinsey proposed cuts in …

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Maria Butina Released from Federal Prison and Immediately Deported to Russia After 15 Months

| Importance: 6/10

Maria Butina was released from the Tallahassee Federal Correction Institution on October 25, 2019 after serving more than 15 months in federal custody. She was immediately taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to Russia the same day, departing on a direct …

Maria Butina Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Federal Bureau of Prisons Russian Government deportations russian-influence foreign-agents nra maria-butina
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New York Times Discloses McKinsey's $20 Million ICE Contract: Employee Outrage and Internal Crisis

| Importance: 8/10

The New York Times discloses that McKinsey & Company has done more than $20 million in consulting work for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, triggering immediate outrage among McKinsey employees and alumni. The revelation comes on the same day that ICE announces an end to its ‘zero …

McKinsey & Company New York Times Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Kevin Sneader McKinsey employees mckinsey consulting-scandal whistleblowing journalism immigration-enforcement +2 more
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Amazon aggressively pitches Rekognition facial recognition to ICE during family separation crisis

| Importance: 9/10

In June 2018, at the height of the Trump administration’s family separation crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, Amazon Web Services officials met with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) representatives in Redwood City, California to pitch Rekognition facial recognition technology for …

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Trump Family Separation Policy Detains 5,500 Children in Cages

| Importance: 9/10

The Trump administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ family separation policy forcibly removed over 5,500 children from their parents at the border, detaining them in cages at facilities described as ‘concentration camps’ by historians. Children as young as 4 months were taken, …

Donald Trump Stephen Miller Jeff Sessions Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) +2 more family-separation human-rights child-abuse immigration crimes-against-humanity
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Jeff Sessions Announces "Zero Tolerance" Policy Designed to Separate Families

| Importance: 9/10

On April 6, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a “zero tolerance” policy for unauthorized border crossings that was explicitly designed to separate children from their parents as a deterrent to asylum seekers and migrants. The policy marked a deliberate escalation from …

Jeff Sessions Donald Trump Stephen Miller Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) family-separation human-rights child-abuse immigration crimes-against-humanity
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ICE Credits McKinsey with 'Quantifiable Benefits': Increased Deportations and Reduced Detention Time

| Importance: 8/10

ICE officials state in an October 2017 contracting document that McKinsey’s work has shown ‘quantifiable benefits,’ specifically citing ‘increased total removals and reductions in time to remove a detainee.’ This official acknowledgment reveals how McKinsey’s …

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McKinsey Ghostwrites Its Own $2.2 Million ICE Contract Extension: Consulting Firm Defines Its Own Scope of Work

| Importance: 8/10

McKinsey’s influence at ICE grows to such an extent that McKinsey staff ghostwrite a government contracting document that defines the consulting team’s own responsibilities and justifies the firm’s retention—a contract extension worth $2.2 million. When an ICE official discovers …

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McKinsey Proposes 'Detention Savings Opportunities': Cuts to Food, Medical Care, and Guard Supervision for Migrants

| Importance: 9/10

McKinsey consultants propose controversial ‘detention savings opportunities’ to ICE that include reducing spending on food for migrants, medical care, and supervision of detainees. An internal ICE email dated March 30, 2017 documents that McKinsey is ’looking for ways to cut or …

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Private Prison Stocks Soar as CoreCivic, GEO Donate $2.8M to Trump

| Importance: 7/10

Private prison companies CoreCivic and GEO Group saw their stock prices surge 100% and 98% respectively after donating nearly $2.8 million to Trump’s campaign and inauguration. Attorney General Jeff Sessions immediately reversed Obama’s order to phase out private prisons, declaring …

CoreCivic GEO Group Jeff Sessions Donald Trump Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) +1 more private-prisons pay-to-play immigration-detention campaign-finance corruption
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McKinsey Redirected from Obama-Era ICE Reform to Trump Immigration Crackdown Consulting

| Importance: 8/10

Just days after President Trump takes office in January 2017 and issues executive orders to shift ‘all legally available resources’ to border detention facilities and hire 10,000 new immigration officers, ICE quickly redirects McKinsey & Company - originally brought on under the …

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McKinsey's ICE Contract Redirected Toward Trump's Immigration Crackdown and Detention Cost-Cutting

| Importance: 9/10

Just days after Trump takes office in January 2017, he issues executive orders directing ‘all legally available resources’ to be shifted to border detention facilities and calls for hiring 10,000 new immigration officers. ICE quickly redirects McKinsey’s existing organizational …

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ICE Conducts Largest Immigration Raid in U.S. History at Postville, Iowa Agriprocessors Plant, Arresting 389 Workers While Management Faces No Criminal Charges Despite Systematic Labor Law Violations and Exploitation

| Importance: 8/10

On May 12, 2008, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deployed 900 federal agents to execute the largest worksite enforcement raid in U.S. history at the Agriprocessors kosher slaughterhouse and meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, arresting 389 employees—nearly 20% of the town’s total …

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Department of Homeland Security Agriprocessors Inc. Sholom Rubashkin U.S. Attorney's Office Northern District of Iowa labor-exploitation immigration-enforcement selective-prosecution corporate-impunity institutional-capture
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