Trump Administration, ICE, DHS
The administration chose mass immigration enforcement, using legislation such as the “One Big Beautiful Bill” signed on July 4, 2025, pours $170.1 billion into immigration enforcement, making ICE the most heavily funded law enforcement agency in U.S. history—outspending some foreign militaries. To make this possible, the administration has hollowed out oversight, reassigned agents from at least five other federal agencies, intensified visa revocations, and pressured U.S. attorneys to prioritize immigration prosecutions above all else.
The administration also built a surveillance‑and‑deportation machine: pressuring the IRS for immigrant taxpayer data, declaring thousands of living people “bureaucratically dead” in Social Security records, and expanding removal flights to a record number of destination countries via opaque, multi‑stop routes. Ambitions once stalled by courts—such as “3,000 arrests per day”—are being revived with massive funding
ICE detained record numbers of people—many without criminal convictions—in overcrowded facilities with inadequate medical care. Private‑prison firms CoreCivic and GEO Group became central to operations, with their revenues rising alongside enforcement expansion. Congressional filings documented overcrowding, medical neglect and denied basic rights, producing the highest number of detainee deaths in two decades.
Billions of taxpayer dollars now flow to private‑prison and transport companies. Analyses estimate that building and operating detention infrastructure at scale would cost taxpayers hundreds of billions, turning enforcement into a permanent economic engine. Courts repeatedly blocked policies, ordered transparency, and rejected unlawful detention and deportation practices.
The harm extends beyond detention walls: raids create fear, disrupt schools, hollow out communities and destabilize labor markets. Economic studies show mass deportations shrink GDP, reduce tax revenue, and cause sector‑specific losses—including billions in agricultural damage—while raising costs for everyone else.
These deportations are driven by profit and political patronage. Private contractors run detention and flight operations through non‑commercial hubs, creating durable infrastructure that outlasts elections. The incentive loop is clear: more arrests → more funding → more capacity → more bodies.
Arizona Removal Operations Coordination Center (AROCC)
AROCC is a stealth deportation choke point— tucked inside Mesa Gateway Airport and barely on the public radar, is officially a temporary holding site for people awaiting deportation or transfer, yet data shows individuals have been held far longer than the 12 hours it’s designed for, exposing its real role in mass removals rather than quick transit.
Built without beds, showers, or proper facilities, AROCC detains people in holding rooms meant for short stays despite documented cases of extended confinement including one “detainee” up to 42 days. Conditions inside AROCC are repeatedly described as inhumane and dangerous.
Reports document clogged and overflowing toilets, denial of showers, inadequate food—sometimes nothing more than bread, water, or military rations—and limited access to drinking water.
During extreme Arizona heat, detainees have reported broken or manipulated air conditioning systems that made people physically ill.
Medical neglect is rampant: missed medications, delayed or lost medical records, and people with serious conditions such as HIV or leukemia left without proper care.
ICE hides AROCC behind private subleases with Strategic Equity Investors and subcontracted guards, meaning local airport authorities and the public can’t access basic lease or oversight records. ICE subleases the AROCC facility from a private company, shielding it from public records requests and airport authority oversight.
DHS has gutted its own internal oversight offices, ensuring fewer inspections, fewer investigations, and fewer consequences. The heavy reliance on private contractors and subcontractors—for flights, guards, and logistics—only deepens the accountability gap and raises serious concerns about training, conduct, and abuse.
There are also disturbing allegations of physical and verbal abuse by guards, including reports of detainees being forced to walk laps in extreme heat until some became sick or fainted. Oversight audits have flagged serious failures in protocol, including ICE officers’ inability or unwillingness to confirm coordination with legal advisors or local authorities when allegations of sexual abuse involving juveniles or vulnerable adults arise.
Internal audits (e.g., 2022 PREA compliance reports) found serious non-compliance issues and gaps in basic protocol adherence—such as failures to confirm coordination with legal advisors or local authorities in abuse allegations—showing that lack of oversight at AROCC isn’t accidental but baked into the structure.
ICE Deportation Flights
ICE deportation flights have been widely documented as violating immigrants’ constitutionally protected rights and basic aviation safety standards.
Migrants on all ICE flights are restrained for the entirety of transport in three-point shackles (handcuffs, waist chains, and leg irons), regardless of age, disability, or criminal history; as of September, 71% of people in ICE custody had no criminal convictions.
Some individuals deemed “unruly” are further restrained with hooding or straitjacket-like devices, making emergency evacuation nearly impossible.
Conditions on these flights are frequently degrading and unsafe.
Accounts describe extremely long journeys—sometimes exceeding 26 hours—with limited food, bathroom access, and sleep for detainees, while workers report 30-hour duty days.
Many migrants are subjected to these conditions repeatedly, with some transferred as many as 20 times.
Foreign governments receiving deportation flights have formally complained about the degrading treatment of repatriated migrants.
Air marshals report that ICE routinely files incorrect passenger manifests and loses track of detainees, while flight attendants say ICE officers often obstruct or prohibit required safety checks.
ICE flight attendants have reported being instructed to abandon migrants during emergency evacuations, and workers who object on moral or safety grounds have faced retaliation, including firing or punitive assignments.
Historical records show ICE flights have failed to meet evacuation benchmarks, with evacuations taking several minutes—far exceeding the industry’s 90-second standard, where even seconds can be life-saving.
As reports of abuse and safety failures continue to mount, public officials and advocates argue that states should not do business with companies that fail to meet basic health, safety, and human-rights standards.