Establishes the principle of non-refoulement specific to torture, prohibiting states from transferring any person to a country where they face a real risk of being tortured. This is an absolute prohibition with no exceptions.
The administration moved toward a second phase of mass deportation operations, shifting from criminal-focused enforcement to broad workplace raids, backed by a $170 billion budget, an expanding …
Pro-Trump immigration coalition publicly called for 'Phase II' — expanding from targeting criminals to workplace raids across the country.
The administration spent $895 million on 10 warehouses for mass detention, with seven additional purchases in progress.
A secret agreement with one of the world's most repressive regimes has stranded 29 deportees in Equatorial Guinea, where they face indefinite detention without counsel or forced deportation to the …
The Trump administration paid Equatorial Guinea $7.5 million in a secretive deal to accept 29 deportees from the United States, as part of a …
The 29 deportees were sent on two flights — November 24, 2025 and January 22, 2026 — and came from nine countries: Ethiopia, Eritrea, …
An accelerated immigration court system that fast-tracks cases through mass remote hearings, with two-thirds of all Somali cases nationwide rescheduled on short notice. The process systematically …
Two-thirds (66.25%) of all Somali noncitizens with open immigration court cases were scheduled for hearings with new judges on short notice, …
Hearings are conducted entirely remotely, with immigrants in Minnesota while judges and government attorneys are in other states. Observers …
Multiple US citizens and legally protected individuals have been wrongfully deported, often in direct defiance of federal court orders. The pattern includes deportation of a man with explicit judicial …
In less than six months, courts directed the Trump administration to bring back at least four people it had wrongfully deported, …
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador despite a 2019 immigration judge order granting him protected status that specifically …
The immediate shutdown of the CBP One asylum scheduling app on Inauguration Day cancelled 30,000 appointments and stranded 270,000 asylum seekers, eliminating the primary legal pathway to request …
On January 20, 2025, at noon EST, CBP removed the scheduling functionality from the CBP One app, instantly cancelling approximately 30,000 …
An estimated 270,000 migrants continued logging into the app seeking appointments after the shutdown, indicating the scale of people relying …
The US paid Rwanda, Ghana, Eswatini, and South Sudan to accept deportees who are not their nationals, in deals a federal judge ruled unconstitutional. HRW called the expulsion agreements violations of …
Rwanda agreed to accept up to 250 deportees from the US under a deal involving approximately $7.5 million in US financial support. Eswatini …
US District Judge Brian Murphy ruled the third-country deportation policy violates federal immigration law and migrants' constitutional …
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7
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2
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Over 260 Venezuelans were secretly deported to CECOT, where HRW documented torture, sexual violence, prolonged incommunicado detention, and denial of basic necessities. Many deportees had no criminal …
260+ Venezuelan nationals were secretly deported to CECOT between March and April 2025, without notice to families or attorneys, …
HRW's 'You Have Arrived in Hell' report documented regular and severe physical abuse, sexual violence (at least 3 cases including forced …
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6
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2
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
Systematic forced disappearances of Salvadoran nationals deported from the US, held incommunicado in Salvadoran prisons including CECOT with no access to lawyers, families, or courts. The US bears …
Human Rights Watch documented 11 cases of Salvadorans deported from the US between mid-March and mid-October 2025 who were immediately …
None of the deportees have been allowed to communicate with their relatives or lawyers. None have been brought before a judge.
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6
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Updated March 25, 2026Deportation to Torture
War Crime / Crime Against HumanityOngoingReported record
A secret $6 million contract enabled the US to outsource detention to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison, where HRW documented systematic torture. The unreleased agreement created an unprecedented …
The US paid $6 million to El Salvador to detain deportees at CECOT, a mega-prison where HRW documented systematic torture including sexual …
The agreement was negotiated during Secretary Rubio's February 2025 visit to El Salvador and finalized as a written deal that has never been …
TPS was terminated or targeted for termination across 11 countries, de-documenting over 1 million people. Federal courts have blocked or paused several terminations. The State Department maintains 'Do …
1.6 million people lost their legal right to stay in the United States in 2025 across all TPS and parole terminations -- the largest mass …
TPS was terminated or targeted for 11 countries: Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Syria, Somalia, …
A systematic pattern of press freedom violations including the arrest of journalists covering immigration enforcement, the deportation of a journalist to the country he fled due to death threats, and …
Don Lemon was arrested on January 30, 2026 on federal charges related to covering an ICE-connected church protest -- widely condemned as a …
Mario Guevara, a Spanish-language journalist, was deported on October 3, 2025 to El Salvador -- the country he had fled in 2004 due to death …
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7
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Updated February 28, 2026Deportation & Immigration
ICE Air conducted 2,253 deportation flights to 79 countries in one year -- a 46% increase over the Biden era -- including to 25 countries that had never received ICE flights. Domestic transfer flights …
2,253 deportation flights to 79 countries from January 20, 2025 to January 20, 2026 -- a 46% increase in flights and 76% increase in …
Removal flights included 25 countries that had never previously received ICE deportation flights.
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5
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0
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Updated February 20, 2026Deportation to Torture
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingReported record
The US secretly deported 17 people from 9 African countries to Cameroon under a covert agreement. Deportees were immediately beaten by gendarmes, arbitrarily detained, and subjected to torture. …
Under a secret agreement, the US deported 17 people from 9 African countries (Angola, DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Sierra …
Deportees included asylum seekers with court-ordered protections against deportation and at least one stateless person.
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6
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Updated February 2, 2026Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingJudicial finding
The US deported Haitians to a country the FAA banned US airlines from landing in due to gang gunfire, where 90% of the capital is under gang control and 1.4 million are displaced. DHS terminated TPS …
90% of Port-au-Prince is under gang control as of July 2025 according to the United Nations.
The FAA banned US airlines from landing at Port-au-Prince airport after deportation planes came under gang gunfire; flights were rerouted to …
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6
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Updated December 22, 2025Deportation & Immigration
ICE turned mandatory immigration court hearings into arrest traps, coordinating in real time with government attorneys to arrest immigrants whose cases were dismissed. Record-setting asylum denials, …
ICE agents arrested immigrants at mandatory immigration court hearings, using case dismissals as triggers for arrest in a coordinated …
Government attorneys and ICE officers coordinated in real time, with agents in hallways waiting to identify and arrest individuals whose …
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Updated December 15, 2025Deportation & Immigration
The administration deported US military veterans including Purple Heart recipients wounded in combat, after replacing Biden-era protections that required ICE to consider military service. An estimated …
An estimated 94,000 US military veterans lack citizenship, leaving them vulnerable to detention and deportation.
In April 2025, the Trump administration replaced Biden-era guidance requiring ICE to consider military service before arrests with a memo …
DHS Secretary Noem terminated Venezuela TPS, and the Supreme Court allowed it to take effect, de-documenting approximately 350,000 people and exposing them to removal to a country the State Department …
DHS Secretary Noem terminated TPS for Venezuela under the 2023 designation on February 5, 2025.
Approximately 350,000 Venezuelans lost legal status and work authorization.
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6
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0
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Updated September 3, 2025Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingActive litigation
The administration invoked a rarely used 1798 wartime statute to justify accelerated removals of Venezuelan nationals, including transfers into El Salvador's detention system, prompting immediate …
The proclamation treated Tren de Aragua activity as an 'invasion' or 'predatory incursion' under the Alien Enemies Act.
The government used the proclamation to argue for removals with sharply reduced individualized process.
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9
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Updated July 15, 2025Deportation & Immigration
Serious Rights ViolationOngoingOfficial executive action
The administration reinstated 'Remain in Mexico,' forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexican cities that the US State Department itself rates as 'Level 4: Do Not Travel' due to kidnapping and violence. …
DHS reinstated MPP on January 21, 2025, forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexican border cities while their cases are processed in US …
MSF documented that in one border city, 75% of MPP patients had been kidnapped while waiting in Mexico under the policy.
The administration imposed an unprecedented total ban on asylum claims at the southern border, shutting down the CBP One app and eliminating all avenues for protection. A federal judge ruled the …
Executive order signed January 20, 2025 suspended all asylum processing at the southern border and shut down the CBP One scheduling app.
The order declared an 'invasion' at the southern border and invoked emergency powers to bypass statutory asylum protections.
DHS terminated humanitarian parole for 532,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, stripping legal status effective April 24, 2025. The Supreme Court allowed the mass revocation in a …
Approximately 532,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela had been granted humanitarian parole under the CHNV programs …
DHS published a Federal Register notice on March 25, 2025 terminating all CHNV parole, with parole expiring April 24, 2025.
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6
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Updated June 6, 2025Deportation & Immigration
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law ConcernOngoingActive litigation
Federal officials removed Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador despite a preexisting withholding order barring that destination, then spent weeks litigating what it meant to 'facilitate' his return …
An immigration judge had already barred Abrego Garcia's removal to El Salvador.
Public reporting said he was transferred into El Salvador's CECOT prison system.