Wyden, Colleagues Demand Transparency on Secretive ICE Operations and Abuse of Immigrants
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Ron Wyden today said he is pressing the Trump administration for answers in light of troubling reports detailing secretive immigration enforcement actions, including inhumanely treating immigrants in government custody.
Wyden and 10 other senators raised concerns with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Air Operations’ (IAO) “near-total secrecy” as part of its mass deportation agenda. IAO has been centrally involved in immigration enforcement actions under the second Trump administration.
The senators pointed to the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the relocation of university student Rumeysa Ozturk before a judge could rule on her case, and the attempted deportation of unaccompanied minors to Guatemala without due process.
“IAO operates in near-total secrecy. ICE does not provide any publicly accessible data on its flights, destinations, costs to taxpayers, or passengers. Additionally, the conditions on board IAO flights have been described as ‘dehumanizing’ and even ‘dangerous,’” the senators underscored in their letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons.
Reports of a recent lawsuit alleges that ICE put several deportees on a military cargo plane wearing straitjackets for 16 hours and did not tell them their destination. In addition, deportees have reportedly made hundreds of allegations of verbal, physical, and even sexual abuse by IAO personnel since 2010. Lastly, numerous public accounts report medical emergencies and systemic limitations on access to critical care on board deportation flights. These reported conditions raise serious human rights concerns.
“Given the complete opacity of IAO, the troubling actions the division has taken under this Administration, and the impending escalation of activities as ICE implements its newly-inflated budget and requests ever-more resources from Congress, ICE must provide greater transparency,” the senators concluded.
The senators pressed Noem and Lyons to answer questions that would provide Congress and the American people much-needed transparency, including the costs of operations, treatment of deportees, fleet and operations, carriers and contracting, flight data and destinations, and voluntary returns.
The letter was led by Senators Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and joined in addition to Wyden by Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
The text of the letter is here.
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