Immigration in the United States and the Callous Policies of the New Administration

Author: Natalie Bello, PhD

October 2, 2025

People are seen boarding a U.S. military aircraft for a deportation flight in a photo released by the White House in January 2025. [Image credit: The White House]

Since the beginning of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and second term as President of the United States, he has reiterated his campaign promise to remove undocumented immigrants. Under the direction of the Trump Administration, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency deported 200,000 individuals in seven months (Alvarez, 2025). Additionally, ICE found that nearly 17,500 people have self-deported due to fear of being detained and sent to detention centers (Alvarez, 2025). The deportation of undocumented immigrants has long been a policy initiative for many sitting presidents, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush. For instance, ICE was established during the Bush administration in response to the September 11th terrorist attacks, while Obama earned the nickname "Deporter in Chief" due to his record-high deportation rates during his presidency (Chishti, Pierce, and Bolter, 2017 and American Immigration Council, 2017). Presidents from both political parties have implemented policies aimed at monitoring migration and removing undocumented immigrants. However, one of the most staggering changes to U.S. immigration policies is how the Trump Administration has made the deportation process more inhumane by sending immigrants to third countries with which they have no connection.

Trump’s deportation policies have negatively impacted Venezuelan immigrants disproportionately to other groups. More than 30% of immigrants being deported to third countries are Venezuelan, which means that nearly 3,000 Venezuelans have been sent to countries they were neither born in nor have had any connection to in the six months leading up to their deportation (Bio, 2025). Venezuelan immigrants make up the largest share of individuals deported to third countries including Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Spain. Additionally, there have been reports of migrants being sent to non-Spanish-speaking countries, without regard for the language barrier, such as Austria, Italy, Syria, and Vanuatu (Bio, 2025). 

The Trump Administration has also outlined new destinations to send migrants. Rwanda agreed to receive 250 deportees after a deal was signed in June (Bio, 2025). This agreement shares similarities with the 2022 UK Conservative Government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda who entered the UK without legal documentation. It is important to note that there was no legal option for individuals to apply for asylum or obtain a refugee visa from outside the UK (International Rescue Committee, 2022). The plan faced legal challenges, including a UK Supreme Court ruling that deemed Rwanda unsafe due to previous human rights abuses (United Nations Human Rights, 2024) and taxpayers incurred a cost of £700 million for a plan that has now been abandoned by the current Labour Government (Morton, 2024). The failure of this plan in another Western country suggests that it might be a misuse of taxpayer money and a violation of international human rights laws and agreements.

The Trump Administration has continued to rely on other nations to detain deported migrants, with one infamously known location in Tecoluca, El Salvador. CECOT (Terrorism Confinement Center) is a maximum security prison built in late 2022, aimed at cracking down on gang violence in El Salvador (The Associated Press, 2025). Prisoners are not allowed to have visitors or go outside. According to the human rights group, Cristosal, as of March 2024, 110,000 people were being held in CECOT, including those sentenced to prison and individuals awaiting trial (The Associated Press, 2025). Cristosal has also reported at least 261 deaths in the prison and “cited cases of abuse, torture, and lack of medical treatment” (The Associated Press, 2025).

In March 2025, the Trump Administration sent more than 280 Venezuelan men to this maximum security prison after paying the Salvadoran government $6 million in taxpayer funds to house these immigrants (Dunbar, 2025 and National Immigration Law Center, 2025). Their deportation was expedited due to claims by Trump and his senior advisors that these Venezuelan men were affiliated with Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal gang that he alleged was infiltrating the United States. Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which has only been used three times in U.S history (The Associated Press, 2025). This Act grants the president the power to detain, restrain, and deport individuals from a nation with which the U.S. is either at war or facing invasion. 

According to reports from ProPublica and the Texas Tribune, 118 of the Venezuelan men deported to CECOT had legally entered the United States and were in the middle of their migration case (del Valle, Bonilla Suárez and Corona Ramos, 2025). Additionally, at least 166 of them had tattoos, which the “government has relied on as an indicator of ties to the Venezuelan gang, despite Tren de Aragua experts saying tattoos are not reliable indicators of gang affiliation” (del Valle, Bonilla Suárez and Corona Ramos, 2025). Importantly, the Trump Administration has not supplied a list of names or any evidence that the individuals deported were members of Tren de Aragua or that they committed any crimes in the U.S. In fact, it was widely known that the majority of the deported men had never committed a crime in the U.S  (The Associated Press, 2025 and del Valle, Bonilla Suárez and Corona Ramos, 2025).

After four months of imprisonment, 252 of the 280 Venezuelan men were released from CECOT and returned to Venezuela following an agreement between the U.S. and Venezuelan governments. A few of these men have spoken out about their ordeal and described their experience in the mega-prison as "hell" and like a "horror movie" (Dunbar, 2025). Former detainees have described having their wrists and ankles shackled, being physically, verbally, and sexually abused, being forced by prison guards to kneel on the floor for hours at a time, eating poor quality food that made people sick, and being forced to sleep on metal planks (Guan, 2025). These men were also prohibited from contacting their families and denied legal representation (Dunbar, 2025). 

While immigration remains a continuously contentious issue in many countries, it is important for nations to develop humane strategies and solutions to manage the increasing number of migrants. The targeting of Central and South American immigrants in the U.S. and the process through which the Trump administration has chosen to detain and deport individuals raises serious concerns in how the government treats migrants. These actions include, masked ICE agents conducting raids in local communities, detaining individuals during migration hearings, the construction of detention centers like the Florida Everglades facility, often referred to as "Alligator Alcatraz", along with sending individuals to third countries instead of their home nations. These practices create significant human rights abuses for migrant populations that break international and U.S law, as well as violate the U.S Constitution (United Nations, 2025 and National Immigration Law Center, 2025 ). The Trump Administration’s disregard for fair treatment of undocumented immigrants must be addressed, and the administration should be held accountable. These policies have led our country away from its roots as a nation of immigrants that embraces new cultures, transforming it into a state where authoritarian figures in the U.S government enforce harsh and inhumane practices.

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Glossary

• Alligator Alcatraz - Alligator Alcatraz is a detention center that was constructed in the Florida Everglades. The name "Alligator Alcatraz" is derived from the American alligators that are prevalent in that area and the former maximum security prison, Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Florida's Attorney General, James Uthmeier, announced this name on his X account. The first group of detainees reported inhumane treatment, including limited access to food and water, unsanitary conditions, and inadequate medical care. Environmental groups are currently suing the facility due to its harmful impact on the environment.

• Asylum Seeker - An asylum seeker is an individual who has left their home country in search of refuge in another country. People may flee their home country due to fear of persecution or significant human rights violations. An asylum seeker is not yet recognized as a refugee and is currently awaiting a decision on their asylum claim.

• Authoritative - In politics, an authoritative system refers to a small group of individuals or a single person holding central power by repressing political freedom and rights, strengthening their rule, limiting democracy, and individual liberties.

• Deportation - Deportation is the process of removing a foreign national from a country that is not their country of origin.

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) - ICE is a federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). They are responsible for enforcing federal immigration and customs laws, as well as protecting national security and public safety. They were created in 2003 after the September 11th terrorist attacks. While they are primarily seen in the news for detaining undocumented immigrants, they are also responsible for investigating cross-border crimes, detention center management, and customs and trade federal law enforcement.

• Melting Pot - A melting pot is a metaphor to describe a place where diverse ethnic groups and cultures blend, forming a new cohesive community.  

• Migration - Migration is the movement of a person or group of people from their place of residence to another country, either on a temporary or permanent basis.

• Self-deported - Self-deportation is when an individual who is not legally authorized to live in a country leaves that country on their own initiative. 

• Undocumented Immigrant - An undocumented immigrant is a person living in a country other than the nation they were born in without legal authorization or permission. This individual may have entered the country without proper paperwork and inspection, overstayed their visa or allowed period of admission, or violated the terms of their visa or admission.