Trump Action Archive

Supporting reports

• Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked Supreme Court to permit third-country deportations — Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court asking the Court to permit the Trump administration to resume sending migrants to third countries. The request came after a federal appeals court stopped the practice, finding that the short timeline for renditions stripped deportees of their right to due process. Sauer argued that disruption of the administration's "plans…imposes massive costs on the government and invariably requires new rounds of diplomatic engagement."

Supporting reports

• Mario David Coronado Juarez dies in car crash during ICE traffic stop in Michigan — Mario David Coronado Juarez, a 36-year-old Guatemalan national, died on Sunday in Grand Rapids when his vehicle struck a tree at high speed and burst into flames shortly after ICE officers attempted a traffic stop. The driver fled at high speed after the stop was initiated; ICE stated agents discontinued pursuit in the interest of public safety. Democratic officials including Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Congresswoman Hillary Scholten have demanded transparency and investigation into the circumstances.

Supporting reports

• ICE agents assault and arrest independent photographer John Abernathy during Minneapolis immigration protest — During a Trump administration immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, ICE agents tackled independent photographer John Abernathy while he documented a protest. A photograph showed him on the ground with pepper spray running down his face. The incident exemplified ICE's aggressive tactics against both immigrants and US citizens defending them, and demonstrated that journalists were not immune to the agency's violence. Abernathy managed to toss his camera to another photographer to preserve his images.

Supporting reports

• Trump administration deports 25,000+ migrants to third countries via 35 bilateral agreements — Since returning to office in 2025, the Trump administration has deported more than 25,000 migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers to countries where they have no connections, using 35 bilateral deals struck with foreign governments. The policy, led by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller through a newly created Office of Remigration, has sent approximately 20,000 people to Mexico and at least 5,000 to Latin America, Africa, central Asia, and the Caribbean. The US has pledged at least $410 million to secure these agreements. A federal appeals court ruled the policy unlawful on procedural grounds (lack of due process notice and contestation), but the administration stated it would appeal and continue deportations during the 90-day appeal window.
• State Department pledged $410 million for third-country deportations — The Washington Post reported that the State Department's "Office of Remigration" pledged at least $410 million to facilitate third-country renditions to expel migrants that U.S. courts say cannot be returned to their home countries for fear of harm or death. The U.S. has sent more than 25,000 people to at least 28 third countries, including Eswatini, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, and Sierra Leone, for a fee. The money includes $81 million in direct payments to 13 foreign governments. Those countries either imprison the migrants or send them back to their home countries, circumventing the prohibition on direct U.S. deportations. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller ordered the deals, and State Department official Christian Ehrhardt secured them.

Supporting reports

• ICE agents beat and injured US citizen in mistaken arrest attempt in Evanston, Illinois — On September 20, 2026, ICE agents in Evanston, Illinois, allegedly beat a Black US citizen during a botched arrest, mistaking him for a fugitive. Eyewitnesses reported the man was pinned down, punched, and had his face scraped against the sidewalk while shouting he was a citizen. The agents left after realizing their error. The victim was hospitalized with head, neck, and teeth injuries. DHS stated the agents encountered someone resembling their target, who was "not cooperative," but eyewitnesses contradicted the official account.
• ICE agents wound US citizen during mistaken detention in Evanston, Illinois — Federal immigration agents detained a US citizen in Evanston, Illinois on Sunday morning, believing he resembled a fugitive they were seeking. When the man refused to provide identification and resisted detention, agents injured him during an attempted handcuff, causing head, neck, and teeth injuries. After fingerprinting determined he was a US citizen and not the person they sought, he was released and hospitalized. Witnesses identified the agents as ICE personnel; the incident occurred as ICE faces scrutiny over violent tactics in Trump's immigration crackdown.
• ICE agents attempt arrest of U.S. citizen in Evanston, Illinois in apparent mistaken identity case — Two ICE agents in Evanston, Illinois attempted to arrest a U.S. citizen in an apparent case of mistaken identity, resulting in injuries requiring hospital treatment. The incident occurred on the same day as the Coronado death and the Austin shooting, contributing to concerns about aggressive and error-prone enforcement operations.

Supporting reports

• Guatemalan national dies after crashing car while fleeing immigration officers in Michigan — On September 20, 2026, a 36-year-old Guatemalan national died after crashing his car into a tree at high speed in Michigan while reportedly attempting to flee immigration officers attempting to detain him. Authorities are investigating the death as part of a pattern of violent immigration enforcement incidents that day.
• ICE agent shot and seriously wounded Venezuelan man during traffic stop in Austin, Texas — On September 20, 2026, an ICE agent shot and seriously wounded a 28-year-old Venezuelan man in Austin, Texas, during a traffic stop while the man was working as a DoorDash delivery driver. The incident was one of three violent encounters involving federal immigration officers that day and is under investigation.
• ICE agent shoots and wounds Venezuelan DoorDash driver in Austin, Texas — An ICE agent shot and wounded Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a Venezuelan man working as a DoorDash delivery driver, in Austin, Texas on the same day as the Coronado death. The incident is cited as part of a pattern of increasingly aggressive ICE enforcement tactics in support of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
• ICE agent shot Venezuelan food delivery driver in Austin — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a Venezuelan food delivery driver, in the back in Austin, Texas. With a bullet still lodged in his body, he was discharged from a hospital to ICE custody, where he spent the night in pain on a cold floor. The officer was a recent hire who was not wearing a body camera, despite Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin's promise that all ICE agents would wear cameras. Officials took Garcés Pérez back to the hospital on Monday after public outcry. His lawyer said he had a valid work permit and is an asylum seeker, and that the deportation order came because notice of his immigration court hearing was sent to the wrong address.

Supporting reports

• María Elvira Salazar criticizes Trump immigration enforcement in CBS interview — Republican congresswoman María Elvira Salazar doubled down on criticism of Trump's mass deportation agenda in a CBS News Face the Nation interview, warning that administration advisers were "compromising his legacy" and not presenting the "whole picture" on immigration policy. She referenced July 2026 ICE detentions in which 50% of 50,000 people detained had no criminal record, and urged Trump not to "squander" his relationship with Hispanic voters who helped elect him in 2024. Trump responded the same day, dismissing her concerns.

Supporting reports

• Complaint filed: NAACP v. Department of Homeland Security et al. (D.D.C. 1:26-cv-03263) — Nine civil rights organizations and labor unions, including the NAACP, Mi Familia en Acción, OCA–Asian Pacific American Advocates, National Urban League, and MN8, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, DOJ, the FBI, and associated officials. The complaint alleges that the Trump administration's rescission of a DHS policy limiting immigration arrests near polling places, combined with rhetoric declining to rule out deploying armed agents near voting locations during the 2026 midterms and expansion of the "Unlawful Voter Initiative" (cross-referencing voter rolls against immigration databases in at least nine states), violates Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act by intimidating voters and persons aiding voters. Plaintiffs seek a declaration of violation and an injunction against unlawful voter intimidation.

Supporting reports

• Ilhan Omar introduces Make ICE Pay Act to redirect $140bn in immigration enforcement funding — U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar introduced the Make ICE Pay Act on September 17, 2026, which would block nearly $140 billion in funding previously designated for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) under Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The bill redirects those funds to states, local governments, nonprofits, and small businesses harmed by Trump's immigration enforcement crackdowns, including Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, which resulted in nearly 4,000 arrests, two fatal shootings of U.S. citizens, and approximately $700 million in community damage. Grants could fund economic relief, educational assistance, psychosocial support, and investigations into enforcement abuses.

Supporting reports

• ICE detains exiled Nicaraguan journalist Luis Galeano in Florida — Luis Galeano, a veteran Nicaraguan journalist who fled his country in 2018 after police raids and arrest warrants, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while driving for Lyft in Florida on Monday. Galeano has had a pending asylum application for approximately seven years, holds a work permit and social security number, and continues reporting critically on Nicaragua's Sandinista government online. As of Wednesday, he was held at Krome detention center in Miami with an immigration court date scheduled for October 2. His detention has drawn criticism from press freedom organizations and some US lawmakers, who note the contradiction of detaining a journalist persecuted by an authoritarian regime the US government simultaneously condemns.

Supporting reports

• Trump administration begins border wall construction in Big Bend region despite local opposition — The Trump administration's Customs and Border Protection agency began construction on a 30-foot steel bollard border wall in Hudspeth County, Texas on September 15, 2026, without prior public announcement. CBP is pressing landowners to grant permission, offering signing bonuses to avoid eminent domain disputes. The agency faces bipartisan backlash from local leaders, landowners, and environmental advocates over plans to expand the wall through the remote Big Bend region, including national parks and areas containing millennia-old rock art.

Supporting reports

• DHS created thousands of potentially unreliable Tecs records on voters based on unverified data — A whistleblower disclosed that the Department of Homeland Security created thousands of records in the Tecs law enforcement database against California residents based on data officers had reason to believe was unreliable or inaccurate. In some cases, DHS provided officers with names and voting dates that did not match state voter registration records. Officers were instructed to create files despite these contradictions and without access to corroborating information, potentially resulting in tens of thousands of erroneous records affecting residents' legal status.

Supporting reports

• DHS Office of Inspector General publishes report documenting inhumane conditions and illegal cage confinement at Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention facility — The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General released a report documenting systematic human rights violations at Florida's Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention facility, operated by Ron DeSantis's administration. Inspectors found detainees confined in metal cages measuring 18 square feet—less than half ICE's own 37-square-foot minimum standard—for up to two hours at a time. The report documented 79 instances of cage confinement between July 2025 and January 2026, along with overcrowding, inadequate water access, inoperable phones, and poor food hygiene. The facility closed in June 2026 after one year of operation.
• DHS inspector general released detention camp violations report — The Department of Homeland Security inspector general released a report documenting systematic violations at the now-closed "Alligator Alcatraz" detention facility in the Florida Everglades. The facility failed in six categories: medical care, food service, personal hygiene, recreation, environmental health and safety, and special management units. Detainees were confined to overcrowded cells, allowed showers only three times weekly, and some were locked in small metal cages with approximately 18 square feet of space for up to two hours. The inspector general found the confinement practices "unprecedented" and "highly unconventional."

Supporting reports

• DHS officers instructed to conduct potentially illegal voter database searches without personal liability protection — Department of Homeland Security lawyers told officers investigating voter fraud they would not face personal liability for violating state laws when accessing voter registration databases, according to a whistleblower disclosure. Officers were instructed to search state voter databases and create federal records on suspected non-citizen voters despite concerns about data reliability and the legality of misrepresenting themselves on state websites. The effort, part of the Trump administration's ramped-up investigation into non-citizen voting ahead of midterm elections, has produced only a handful of cases despite non-citizen voting being extremely rare.

Supporting reports

• DHS overstated non-citizen voter identifications in Nevada by more than 85 times initial count — The Department of Homeland Security initially claimed to have identified as many as 15,903 non-citizens on Nevada's voter rolls by comparing July 2025 public voter data against DHS records. However, when DHS began reviewing the data, they had only firmly identified 185 non-citizens, representing a discrepancy of over 15,700 individuals. The massive gap between the initial claim and verified findings raises questions about data reliability and the basis for the administration's voter fraud investigation.

Supporting reports

• Complaint filed — City of New York v. United States Department of Homeland Security — Six local governments—New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Santa Clara County, Seattle, and King County—filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York challenging a July 2026 DHS final rule that rescinded the 2022 "public charge" definition and replaced it with a broader, discretionary standard tied to any means-tested public benefit use. The complaint also challenges an August 2026 USCIS implementing policy guidance. Plaintiffs allege violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, claiming the rule is contrary to law, in excess of statutory authority, arbitrary and capricious, and (as to the USCIS guidance) adopted without notice-and-comment rulemaking. Plaintiffs seek vacatur, declaratory relief, and injunctive relief.

Supporting reports

• Complaint filed: State of New York v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security — New York, 21 other states, the District of Columbia, and the Governor of Pennsylvania filed a complaint in the Southern District of New York challenging a July 20, 2026 DHS final rule that rescinded the 2022 regulatory definition of "public charge" and replaced it with a broader, undefined standard tied to likely use of any means-tested public benefit. The complaint alleges the rule and accompanying USCIS implementing guidance are contrary to law, in excess of statutory authority, and arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act, and that the guidance constitutes an unlawful legislative rule issued without notice-and-comment procedures. Plaintiffs seek vacatur, declaratory and injunctive relief, and attorney fees, estimating the rule will cost them $2.2 billion in reduced federal payments and create added public health and administrative burdens.
• Trump administration implements expanded "public charge" rule restricting green card eligibility based on public benefits use — The Trump administration issued a new policy expanding the "public charge" rule to allow immigration officers to deny green cards to applicants who use public benefits including Medicaid, food stamps, and housing vouchers. The rule is more expansive than a similar first-term attempt, now permitting officers to consider benefits applied for on behalf of family members, including U.S. citizen children. A coalition of 22 states and D.C., led by New York, filed suit Monday challenging the policy as unlawful and economically harmful to states and families.

Supporting reports

• Ankle bracelet monitoring imposed on Haitian TPS holders in Springfield — Following immigration check-ins required under TPS termination, Haitian nationals in Springfield, including Pierre Damas Bel, were ordered to wear ankle bracelet monitors. Bel reported the device as humiliating and stated it prevented him from participating in school sports. The monitoring requirement contributed to his psychological distress in the weeks before his death on 31 August.

Supporting reports

• ICE enforcement operations in Springfield, Ohio result in mass detentions and deportations of Haitian immigrants — Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been active in Springfield for approximately one month, conducting enforcement operations that have resulted in thousands of Haitian immigrants fleeing the city or being detained and deported. Hundreds remain in jail awaiting processing. The enforcement campaign has created a climate of fear among the Haitian community, including students who declined interviews with media outlets for fear of detention and deportation. An ICE spokesperson stated the agency is not responsible for Pierre Damas Bel's death.

Supporting reports

• Bo French posts racist image and anti-Indian rhetoric on social media — Bo French, GOP nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, posted a photo of Indian American students celebrating at a University of Texas football game alongside alarmist anti-Indian rhetoric, claiming "UT graduation this year looked like this" and suggesting demographic replacement. The tweet garnered 47 million views. French has a history of similar posts and has previously called for deportation of 100 million people, a number exceeding the total foreign-born population of the United States.

Supporting reports

• Right-wing media figures and politicians defend French and attack Republican critics — Following the official Republican condemnations, right-wing journalists, activists, and GOP politicians publicly defended French and attacked Republican critics. Representative Nico Rios, Sean Davis, Auron MacIntyre, and Jack Posobiec posted messages supporting French and attacking Senator Cornyn as an "anti-American loser" and "traitorous catamite." Representative Dustin Burrows called for French to delete the tweet, but the broader right-wing response was supportive.

Supporting reports

• LULAC, Common Cause, UnidosUS, and Denver file federal lawsuit challenging armed ICE enforcement at polling places — LULAC, Common Cause, UnidosUS, and the City and County of Denver filed a federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., on Thursday challenging a Trump administration policy permitting armed ICE officers to enter polling places to conduct immigration enforcement. The lawsuit was prompted by comments from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stating that ICE officers could enter polling locations to serve warrants or conduct immigration and customs enforcement. Plaintiffs cited an 1865 federal law generally prohibiting armed federal personnel at election sites except to repel armed enemies, and argued that armed immigration enforcement could intimidate voters and interfere with local election administration.

Supporting reports

• Department of Justice Removes Alien Terrorist in First Use of United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court — The Department of Justice announced this on 2026-09-11 through Office of the Attorney General. The recorded stage is a conviction after trial. The department's own account of it reads: "In the first-ever case before the United States Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC), Nazira Haji Zada, 47, an Afghan national previously residing in Fort Worth, Texas, was removed from the United States after conceding that she is an alien terrorist."
• First deportation through Alien Terrorist Removal Court using secret evidence — Trump's Justice Department announced the first-ever deportation of an individual through the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, a specialized tribunal that has existed since 1996 but had never been used. The court's procedures permit the use of secret evidence that deportation targets never see, a practice that legal scholars have flagged as raising constitutional concerns regarding due process and the right to confront evidence.

Supporting reports

• Trump administration proposes citizenship question on census and eliminates race/ethnicity data collection — The Trump administration issued a new proposal to add a citizenship question to the U.S. Census questionnaire and bar the Census Bureau from collecting race and ethnicity data despite the nation collecting such demographics since 1790. The citizenship question could exclude millions of people from the census count, affecting congressional apportionment, electoral district mapping, and federal funding allocation to states. The move directly contradicts the 14th Amendment's requirement to count all people living in the United States.

Supporting reports

• Trump calls for renaming New Mexico to "New America" — President Trump posted on social media calling for New Mexico to be renamed "New America," citing the state's name as having problematic connotations. The proposal drew widespread outrage from New Mexican residents, particularly Latinos and Native Americans, who viewed it as an attack on their state's identity and history. Some Republicans dismissed it as satire. The call came 10 days after the Trump administration sued New Mexico over in-state tuition for undocumented immigrant students, intensifying perceptions of targeting communities of color.