ACLU Sues ICE for Clues on Trump’s Deportation Plans

Guatemalans deported from the United States walk on the tarmac after landing at a Guatemalan Air Force base in Guatemala City in the first flight of deportees of the year on January 3, 2024. Johan Ordonez/AFP

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the federal government for information it says will reveal how the incoming Trump administration might expel millions of illegal immigrants.

The public records lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), demands records about ICE Air Operations—the agency’s division responsible for deporting foreign nationals via commercial airlines and chartered flights.

Specifically, the lawsuit calls for the release of contracts, dating from Jan. 1, 2023, to the present, for deportation flights and ground transportation services. It also requests records showing the airfields that ICE Air uses or can access, as well as procedures for staging and staffing flights, including those involving unaccompanied children.

Alleging that ICE has failed to respond to previous public records requests, the ACLU asks the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division, to compel the agency to hand over the documents immediately and block it from withholding similar records in the future.

“Despite the critical role these flights play in the removal system—in many instances, serving as the mechanism for deportation—ICE Air remains shrouded in secrecy,” the ACLU said in the complaint. “This secrecy has masked responsibility for serious abuses and danger on ICE Air flights.”

ICE’s website states that its air program operates 12 aircraft from locations in Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. According to the agency’s annual report, ICE Air conducted 47,617 out of 62,545 total ICE deportations in the fiscal year of 2023 under Title 42, a now-expired public health order used to expedite removals on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.

The ACLU said it has concerns that ICE Air could expand its transportation network to help the incoming Trump administration deport “more than 11 million people” from the United States.

“For months, the ACLU has been preparing for the possibility of a mass detention and deportation program, and FOIA litigation has been a central part of our roadmap,” Kyle Virgien, an attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, said in a statement. “A second Trump administration underscores the urgency of our litigation.”

An ICE spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the agency will not comment on the pending litigation.

President-elect Donald Trump made border security and immigration enforcement a cornerstone of his campaign, pledging to intensify deportations immediately upon taking office.

“President Trump will marshal every federal and state power necessary to institute the largest deportation operation of illegal criminals, drug dealers, and human traffickers in American history while simultaneously lowering costs for families,” Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for the Trump–Vance transition team, said in a statement on Monday to media outlets.

“The American people re-elected President Trump by a resounding margin giving him a mandate to implement the promises he made on the campaign trail, like deporting migrant criminals and restoring our economic greatness. He will deliver.”