U.S. Immigration Enforcement Flights Surge, Generating Massive Carbon Emissions and Heightened Human-Rights Scrutiny

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operated an estimated 335,876 tonnes (370,240 US tons) of CO2-equivalent emissions in 2025, an 88 % rise from the prior year. In the first four months of 2026, ICE added 139,594 tonnes, projecting roughly a 25 % increase over 2025’s total. The spike follows a record 245 removal flights in a single month and an average of 22 aircraft conducting 58 enforcement flights daily.

The Guardian

President Donald Trump’s second-term anti-immigration agenda accelerated arrests, detentions and deportations, prompting a $205 million budget boost for flight operations. Human Rights First (HRF) director Savitri Arvey, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) global policy coordinator Brett Heinz, and AFSC policy fellow Bashir Elhassan have been vocal analysts of the trend. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ICE’s parent agency, maintains that flights target “the worst of the worst” criminals.

The Guardian

• Detainees (early April 2026): >60,000; >70 % lack criminal convictions.

The Guardian

• Domestic transfers between detention sites rose 132 % from the Biden administration’s final year to Trump’s first year back.

The Guardian

• Flights reached 79 countries in Trump’s first year, up from 45 under President Biden.

The Guardian

• Removal flights to southern Mexico averaged 23 per week by mid-April 2026, compared with five per week earlier in the year.

The Guardian

• Charter, military, Coast Guard and international carrier aircraft are used for the expanded network.

The Guardian

DHS officials defended the use of restraints on deportation flights as “long-standing, standard ICE protocol” intended to protect both detainees and officers, asserting compliance with legal standards. When asked about environmental concerns, a DHS spokesperson redirected the query to “the mountains of litter that illegal aliens dropped on ranches and riverbeds during Biden’s border crisis.”

The Guardian

HRF and AFSC have highlighted due-process violations, routine shackling, and the use of a body-restraint suit called the “Wrap” on long-haul flights. They argue that deporting large numbers of non-violent detainees exacerbates community disruption and fuels a “vicious cycle” where climate-driven migration is amplified by the emissions of the flights themselves. Localities such as Phoenix (AZ), El Paso and Harlingen (TX), and Alexandria (LA) experience heightened surface-level air pollution, which experts link to respiratory illnesses, bronchitis and premature mortality.

The Guardian

The DHS response addressed litter rather than emissions, offering no quantitative rebuttal to the Guardian-verified carbon calculations. Independent verification of flight-specific fuel use remains limited, leaving the precise emissions figure reliant on HRF tracking data and ICAO methodology.

The Guardian

• “We’ve seen a staggering increase of all US immigration [enforcement] flights,” — Savitri Arvey, Director, Research & Analysis, Human Rights First

The Guardian

• “When we try to inflict suffering on immigrants, it … inflicts a lot of suffering on them – it also inflicts suffering on ourselves, on everyone. There’s no one that escapes when we’re trying to increase human misery,” — Brett Heinz, Global Policy Coordinator, American Friends Service Committee

The Guardian

• “Whenever they [federal officials] say that they don’t have enough money for social services, they have money for the military complex to deport people,” — Bashir Elhassan, Policy Fellow, AFSC

The Guardian

• “Airport emissions are near the surface already, but even when flights are flying, their pollution descends down to the surface over time,” — Mark Z. Jacobson, Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Stanford University

The Guardian

• “And on the issue of restraining passengers, DHS said: “The use of restraints on detainees during deportation flights has been long standing, standard ICE protocol and an essential measure to ensure the safety and well-being of both detainees and the officers/agents accompanying them.” — DHS spokesperson (unnamed)

The Guardian

The $205 million budget increase suggests continued expansion of ICE’s air-transport capacity. Monitoring groups anticipate further scrutiny of emissions reporting and human-rights compliance as domestic and international observers assess the environmental and legal ramifications of the policy trajectory.

The Guardian