Due process
Before the state takes a person's liberty, property, or status, there must be notice, an adequate hearing, counsel where required, and a meaningful opportunity to be heard. These procedural protections are old, and they exist because the alternative — the state acting unilaterally against individuals — has consistently produced injustice everywhere it has been tried. Due process is what makes the difference between a lawful state and an arbitrary one.
The abuses tracked under this ideal include the denial of counsel where it is required, detention without lawful authority or beyond authorized duration, deprivation of liberty without an adequate hearing, the refusal to honor habeas petitions, the bypassing of required procedural protections in immigration enforcement, and extrajudicial state action that punishes without adjudication. The principle applies to citizens and non-citizens alike, in immigration courts as in criminal ones, because the constitutional question is about what the government may do, not about who the target is.
Further reading: National Constitution Center Interactive Constitution — Fifth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment. Constitution Annotated: Due Process Generally.
Entries
2026
HHS/ORR compiled expedited removal list for 500+ unaccompanied migrant children, bypassing TVPRA individual case process
On June 25, 2026, the Trump administration's Department of Health and Human Services, through its Office of Refugee Resettlement, identified more than 500 unaccompanied migrant children in federal custody for expedited mass removal. Senator Ron Wyden publicly warned that the planned removal would bypass the individualized case management, legal referral, and sponsor-placement process that the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act requires for each child. Multiple major outlets confirmed the list had been compiled and removal was imminent.
Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that CBP metering policy does not violate asylum law, eliminating asylum seekers' principal legal challenge avenue
On June 25, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado that U.S. Customs and Border Protection's "metering" policy — systematically turning asylum seekers away at ports of entry before they physically cross the border line — does not violate federal asylum law. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito held that noncitizens physically blocked at a port of entry have not "arrived in the United States" within the meaning of 8 U.S.C. § 1158 and therefore have no statutory right to apply for asylum. The decision forecloses the primary legal avenue that had permitted asylum seekers to challenge their systematic exclusion at the border.
Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that criminal suspicion alone justifies immigration parole of lawful permanent residents
On June 23, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the Trump administration, holding that an immigration officer's unverified allegation of criminal wrongdoing is sufficient to place a lawful permanent resident on immigration parole at a border crossing. The majority opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, found that border officers need not establish criminal activity by clear and convincing evidence before restricting a green card holder's rights. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's dissent, joined by both other liberal justices, warned the ruling handed the government a "massive blank check" to weaken due-process protections for the approximately 13.5 million lawful permanent residents in the United States.
JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; ~66th strike, ~213 campaign deaths
On June 21, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted its approximately 66th lethal strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing 2 men and rescuing 6 others. U.S. Southern Command issued an official "Lethal Kinetic Strike" press release confirming the action on June 22. The strike brought the campaign's reported death toll to approximately 213 people since Operation Southern Spear launched in September 2025, all conducted without formal congressional war authorization.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 65th strike, ~211 campaign deaths
On June 18, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted its 65th lethal strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men. SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan confirmed the strike and released video footage of the targeted vessel. The strike brought the campaign's reported death toll to approximately 211 people since Operation Southern Spear launched in September 2025, all killed without formal congressional war authorization.
JTF Southern Spear killed 1 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Eastern Pacific; 64th strike, ~204 campaign deaths
On June 17, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted its 64th lethal strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person and leaving two survivors. The U.S. Coast Guard launched search and rescue operations but suspended them after 20 hours and a 46-mile search area, leaving the survivors' fate unknown. The strike was confirmed by U.S. Southern Command; the campaign had killed at least 203 people across 63 prior strikes since September 2025, all without formal congressional war authorization.
U.S. strike in Venezuela kills Tren de Aragua leader Héctor Guerrero Flores
President Trump announced on June 12, 2026, that U.S. Southern Command carried out a "kinetic strike" in Bolívar state, Venezuela, that killed Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores ("Niño Guerrero"), the alleged longtime leader of Tren de Aragua. The named target had been indicted in U.S. federal court and carried a $5 million U.S. bounty, but was killed without arrest, trial, or judicial process. Trump said the operation was closely coordinated with the Venezuelan government, which confirmed a combined operation in Bolívar state.
ICE deports Adelanto hunger-strike organizer Kyon Swaso to Belize after no-notice out-of-state transfers
On June 12, 2026, ICE deported Kyon Shakeel Swaso — a Belizean national and lead organizer of the hunger strike at California's GEO Group-run Adelanto ICE Processing Center — to Belize, following a series of no-notice transfers to facilities in Texas and Louisiana that his attorneys say violated Central District of California General Order 26-05's advance-notice requirement. The deportation proceeded despite a pending Stay of Removal and Motion to Reopen. The removal came eleven days after Swaso met with members of Congress to report inhumane conditions at Adelanto; DHS disputes that a hunger strike is occurring and characterizes the removal as routine.
Trump administration defies court order to resume immigration processing for 39 countries
Six days after U.S. District Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. vacated the administration's freeze on asylum decisions, green cards, work permits, and other immigration adjudications for nationals of 39 countries, the government had still not resumed processing. On June 11, 2026, after a coalition of unions and nonprofits filed an emergency motion to enforce, McConnell ordered the administration to file a status report within 24 hours detailing its compliance and wrote that "there is no excuse this time."
U.S. strike enforcing Iran oil blockade kills three Indian sailors aboard tanker off Oman
On June 10, 2026, U.S. forces enforcing an executive-ordered naval blockade of Iranian oil exports fired on the Palau-flagged oil tanker M/T Settebello in the Gulf of Oman, killing three of its 24 Indian crew members — deck cadet Aditya Sharma, engine fitter Shivanand Chaurasiya, and chief engineer Patnala Suresh. U.S. Central Command said it disabled the tanker for violating the blockade as it allegedly attempted to carry Iranian oil, and has described the crews of targeted vessels as having repeatedly failed to comply with U.S. directions. India confirmed the deaths and summoned a senior U.S. diplomat on June 11 to lodge a formal protest, and the U.N. International Maritime Organization called the targeting of seafarers "unacceptable."
CBP deports more than 200 Filipino sailors on unproven child sexual abuse material accusations
An NPR investigation published June 6, 2026 documented that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has deported more than 200 Filipino professional mariners since 2025 after accusing them — without charges, prosecutions, or presented evidence — of possessing child sexual abuse material. Agents board cruise and commercial ships in port, search crew members' phones, revoke their crew visas, and remove them to Manila within roughly 24 hours, with 10-year entry bans in at least some cases. The Pilipino Workers Center has tracked at least 212 such cases, all visa revocations with no criminal charges.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~63rd strike, ~207 campaign deaths
On June 3, 2026, the U.S. military struck a vessel it alleged was smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two men, according to U.S. Southern Command. The strike was part of Operation Southern Spear, the administration's open-ended military campaign against suspected traffickers begun in September 2025; the Pentagon provided no evidence the boat carried drugs and no arrest, charge, or judicial process preceded the killings. The reported cumulative death toll from the campaign's boat strikes reached at least 207.
JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~62nd strike, ~205 campaign deaths
On May 31, 2026, U.S. Southern Command struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as a drug-trafficking boat, killing three men in the fourth such strike of the week. SOUTHCOM said the boat was "engaged in narco-trafficking operations" and operated by a designated terrorist organization but provided no evidence, and said the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top U.S. commander in Latin America. The strike is the latest in an open-ended military campaign begun in early September 2025 whose reported death toll has now reached roughly 205, carried out with no judicial process and no congressional authorization for hostilities against Latin American drug-trafficking organizations.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Eastern Pacific; ~61st strike, ~205 campaign deaths
On May 30, 2026, U.S. Southern Command conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three people. The strike was directed by Gen. Francis L. Donovan, SOUTHCOM commander, under the authorization of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. SOUTHCOM described the vessel as engaged in drug-trafficking operations, operated by a designated terrorist organization, but provided no evidence and no judicial process.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 61st strike, ~202 campaign deaths
On May 29, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three people. The Trump administration released no public evidence that the victims were engaged in drug trafficking, provided no names or nationalities, and offered no legal proceedings. The strike was the 61st in Operation Southern Spear, bringing the campaign's total to approximately 202 deaths since September 2025.
HRW: 4,353 Cubans deported to Mexico under undisclosed US deal, denied due process
In a report released May 27, 2026, Human Rights Watch documented that between January 20, 2025 and March 9, 2026 the Trump administration deported more than 18,000 third-country nationals, nearly 13,000 of them to Mexico under an undisclosed US-Mexico agreement; Cubans were the largest group, with 4,353 sent to Mexico. HRW found that none of the 53 deportees it interviewed were given any opportunity to contest their country of removal, a violation of due-process requirements under the Immigration and Nationality Act and international law, and that detainees faced overcrowding, denial of medical care, and guard violence in US custody before being left stranded in southern Mexico.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 60th strike, ~196 campaign deaths
On May 27, 2026, U.S. Southern Command said Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as operated by a designated terrorist organization, killing two men. It was the 60th strike of Operation Southern Spear and the second in two days, following a May 26 strike that killed one. The Pentagon offered no evidence the vessel carried drugs, and Congress has not authorized hostilities against Latin American drug-trafficking organizations.
JTF Southern Spear killed one aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~59th strike, ~194 campaign deaths
On May 26, 2026, U.S. Southern Command struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that it described as a suspected drug-trafficking boat, killing one man and leaving two survivors. The strike continues an open-ended military campaign begun in early September 2025 that has now killed at least 194 people across the eastern Pacific and Caribbean theaters; the Pentagon has not provided evidence that any struck vessel was carrying drugs, and Congress has not authorized hostilities against Latin American drug-trafficking organizations.
DHS directs ICE to pursue immigration attorneys under asylum-fraud authority
On May 26, 2026, DHS General Counsel James Percival issued a memo directing ICE attorneys in the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor to develop "anti-fraud policies" for "robust enforcement" of the document-fraud statute (8 U.S.C. § 1324c), stating the effort should include enforcement against immigration attorneys who file false asylum claims. The memo explicitly invoked President Trump's March 2026 directive seeking sanctions against lawyers who bring "frivolous" litigation against the government.
DOJ swore in active-duty military JAG officers as temporary immigration judges
On May 20, 2026, the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) held an investiture at the DOJ Great Hall swearing in 77 permanent and 5 temporary immigration judges — the largest single class in the agency's history. The 5 temporary judges are active-duty military Judge Advocate General (JAG) attorneys, the first cohort detailed under an August 2025 Pentagon authorization to assign up to 600 military lawyers to the immigration courts. The buildout follows the removal of more than 100 sitting immigration judges and the hiring of enforcement-aligned replacements, and is explicitly aimed at accelerating deportation cases.
US State Department adds Central African Republic to its third-country deportation program
The U.S. State Department has negotiated an agreement for the Central African Republic to receive migrants of other nationalities deported by the United States — the latest expansion of the Trump administration's third-country deportation program. Rights groups and Senate Democrats say the program removes migrants who had secured immigration-court protections against repatriation, routing them to unrelated countries to circumvent those protections. The deal was struck at a May 18, 2026 meeting in Bangui led by State Department deputy assistant secretary Christian Jové Ehrhardt and reported by Reuters on June 7; a federal judge's May 22 restraining order shows US officials had already planned to remove a Turkish national to the country on May 26.
ICE agents enter Tucson home without judicial warrant and arrest DACA recipient Karla Toledo
On the morning of May 18, 2026, federal immigration agents arrested Karla Toledo, a 31-year-old longtime Tucson, Arizona resident and DACA recipient, at her home. Video shared by her family shows occupants repeatedly asking agents to produce a warrant, and her family and attorney say no judicial warrant was presented before agents entered. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Toledo was taken in a "targeted immigration enforcement operation" and, with the Department of Homeland Security, asserted that DACA confers no legal status, that she entered the country unlawfully in October 2024, and that she assaulted an agent — claims her attorney disputes, citing surveillance footage. Toledo was moved to ICE detention in Eloy, Arizona, where her bond was set at $1,500 and her attorney expected her release within days.
Federal court bars ICE from arresting immigrants at three Manhattan federal courthouses after finding the agency lacked internal legal authority for the year-plus practice
On May 18, 2026, U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel (Southern District of New York) issued a 15-page stay barring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from arresting most immigrants inside or around three federal courthouses in lower Manhattan — 26 Federal Plaza, 201 Varick Street, and 290 Broadway — except in narrow circumstances involving imminent national-security or public-safety threats. The court's findings document the underlying abuse this entry records: ICE had conducted courthouse arrests at substantial scale for over a year despite, as federal prosecutors admitted in March 2026, having no internal agency rules establishing the legal authority for the practice, and the agency had continued the arrests after conceding this to prosecutors. A masked-agent arrest was witnessed at 26 Federal Plaza on the morning of May 18, hours before the stay took effect.
Woman gives birth on a Brooklyn courtroom bench while in custody awaiting arraignment
On the night of May 15, 2026, Samantha Randazzo, 33 and nine months pregnant, gave birth to a boy on a bench inside Kings County Criminal Court in Brooklyn while in NYPD custody awaiting arraignment on low-level drug-possession and trespassing charges, hours after a city hospital discharged her back into custody. Public defenders who witnessed the birth said she was restrained and lacked medical care, privacy, or dignity; the state Office of Court Administration disputes that she was shackled to the bench. The Brooklyn District Attorney's office later dismissed her charges.
BIA fast-tracked Mahmoud Khalil's deportation case in 9-day 'unprecedented' turnaround
Internal Department of Justice case-tracking documents obtained by The New York Times and reported publicly on May 11, 2026 reveal that the Board of Immigration Appeals — an appellate body housed within the DOJ — fast-tracked the deportation case of Palestinian Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil along a procedural track that a former BIA member called "unprecedented." Per the internal documents, the case was flagged high-priority before the board officially received it; a staff note instructed handling Khalil's case as if he were still in detention even though he had been released several days earlier; the BIA's April 9, 2026 decision authorizing Khalil's deportation came just nine days after paperwork was submitted; and at least three judges recused themselves from the proceedings.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~58th strike, ~192 campaign deaths
On May 8, 2026, U.S. Southern Command struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that it described as a suspected drug-trafficking boat, killing two people and leaving one survivor. SOUTHCOM said it notified the U.S. Coast Guard to begin search-and-rescue operations and called the boat a narcotrafficker but provided no public evidence; the strike is the third deadly attack in five days and brings the open-ended campaign's reported death toll to roughly 192 people across the eastern Pacific and Caribbean theaters.
BIA reinstates deportation proceedings against Columbia activist Mohsen Mahdawi
The Board of Immigration Appeals reinstated removal proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian lawful permanent resident and Columbia University student activist, overturning an immigration judge's February dismissal of the case. The government had pursued Mahdawi's deportation under a rarely used foreign-policy provision invoked by the Secretary of State, after he was detained in 2025 over his pro-Palestinian advocacy and released by a federal court without being charged with any crime.
ICE agents injure a U.S. citizen in a Bronx takedown of the wrong person
On May 6, 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducting an enforcement operation in the Norwood section of the Bronx tackled, handcuffed, and detained Jeury Concepcion, a U.S. citizen who was not the person they were seeking. Bystander cellphone video captured the takedown; Concepcion was left bleeding from a head wound that required several stitches, and agents released him after checking his ID and phone and determining he was not their target. The Department of Homeland Security disputes the "wrongful arrest" characterization, saying officers ran a targeted operation, that Concepcion matched the target's description and became combative, and that he was briefly detained and promptly released.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Eastern Pacific; 57th strike, ~194 campaign deaths
On May 5, 2026, JTF Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike against an alleged narcotics vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men. U.S. Southern Command provided no evidence the vessel carried drugs, and no arrest, charge, or judicial process preceded the killings.
JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; ~57th strike, ~191 campaign deaths
On May 4, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear struck a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing two people. The strike was carried out under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's Operation Southern Spear mandate with no prior judicial process or public evidence regarding the victims.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~56th strike, ~189 campaign deaths
On May 4, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three people. The strike was carried out under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's Operation Southern Spear mandate at the direction of SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, with no prior judicial process or public evidence regarding the victims.
JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~55th strike, ~186 campaign deaths
On April 26, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that it described as an alleged drug-trafficking boat, killing three people. SOUTHCOM posted a video of the strike on X and said the boat was transiting "known narco-trafficking routes," but provided no public evidence that it carried narcotics. The attack was the latest in the Trump administration's open-ended boat-strike campaign, which by late April had killed at least 186 people across the eastern Pacific and Caribbean.
ICE re-arrests El Gamal family at first check-in, attempts deportation in defiance of federal release order
On April 25, 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents re-arrested Hayam El Gamal and her five children at the family's first required post-release check-in in Colorado Springs, two days after U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of the Western District of Texas ordered them freed pending their asylum proceedings. ICE routed the family onto a flight bound for Michigan and told them they would be deported to Egypt; the plane reversed course mid-air only after Judge Biery and U.S. District Judge Nina Wang of Colorado issued emergency orders Saturday evening directing that the family not be removed. The mother and her five children — held at the Dilley, Texas family detention center for more than ten months and never charged with any crime — were released again just after midnight on April 26.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; ~54th strike, ~183 campaign deaths
On April 24, 2026, U.S. forces operating under Joint Task Force Southern Spear struck a vessel they alleged was engaged in narco-trafficking in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people, U.S. Southern Command said. SOUTHCOM asserted the boat was operated by "Designated Terrorist Organizations" but, consistent with the entire campaign, released no public evidence that the vessel carried drugs and no arrest, charge, or judicial process preceded the killings. The strike was part of Operation Southern Spear, the open-ended military campaign begun in September 2025 whose reported cumulative death toll had reached at least 183.
DOJ announces forthcoming rule to narrow federal habeas review of state capital convictions under Chapter 154
On April 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced — in a same-day press release from the Office of Public Affairs paired with the Office of Legal Policy report "Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty" — that it planned to publish a proposed rule that would "empower states to streamline federal habeas review of capital cases" under Chapter 154 of Title 28, with DOJ saying the rule "will reduce by years the period between conviction and execution in state capital cases." Federal habeas review of state convictions has been the principal vehicle for federal-court oversight of state capital cases since 1867; an administrative rule that materially narrows that review would curtail a long-standing federal check on state criminal-justice systems without legislative action.
DOJ announces forthcoming rule barring federal capital inmates from filing clemency petitions until direct appeals and first collateral attack are final
On April 24, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced — in a same-day press release from the Office of Public Affairs paired with the Office of Legal Policy report "Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty" — that it planned to publish a proposed rule prohibiting capital inmates from submitting clemency petitions, and the Office of the Pardon Attorney from considering them, until the inmate's direct appeal and first collateral attack are final. The rule, within DOJ's claimed rulemaking authority, would for the first time foreclose for years at a time a clemency remedy that historically has run in parallel with — not after — judicial review.
JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 53rd strike, ~181 campaign deaths
On Sunday, April 19, 2026, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Task Force Southern Spear, at the direction of SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel it said was operated by "Designated Terrorist Organizations" transiting a known narco-trafficking route in the Caribbean Sea, killing three men. The strike — the fifth in eight days and the campaign's roughly 53rd — brought Operation Southern Spear's announced death toll to at least 181 people since September 2025. As with prior strikes, the government released video but no evidence the vessel carried drugs and did not identify those killed, who received no interdiction or judicial process.
ICE deported Colombian woman to DR Congo after Congolese officials refused her on medical grounds
On April 16, 2026, ICE placed Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata — a 55-year-old Colombian woman with diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypothyroidism — on a removal flight to the Democratic Republic of the Congo two days after Congolese officials had formally refused to accept her because they could not guarantee the medical care her conditions required. On May 14, 2026, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon (D.D.C.) ruled the deportation was likely unlawful under the Immigration and Nationality Act and ordered the Trump administration to return her to the United States, finding that she faced a "daily risk of medical complications, up to and including death." As of the ruling she remained in the DRC.
JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 52nd strike, ~178 campaign deaths
On April 15, 2026, U.S. Southern Command said Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel it alleged was operated by designated terrorist organizations in the eastern Pacific, killing three men it described as "narco-terrorists." It was the fifth lethal U.S. boat strike in five days and raised the reported death toll from Operation Southern Spear to at least 178 across roughly 53 targeted vessels since September 2025. The Pentagon released an unclassified video but offered no evidence the boat carried drugs, and no arrest, charge, or judicial process preceded the killings.
JTF Southern Spear killed four aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 51st strike, ~175 campaign deaths
On April 14, 2026, U.S. Southern Command (Joint Task Force Southern Spear) carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel it described as a suspected narco-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four men. Reported as the 51st strike in the open-ended Operation Southern Spear campaign and the fourth in roughly five days, it brought the campaign's cumulative reported death toll to at least 175. SOUTHCOM released aerial video and said intelligence confirmed the vessel was on known trafficking routes, but the administration again provided no public evidence for its "narco-terrorist" designation.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 50th strike, ~169 campaign deaths
On April 13, 2026, U.S. Southern Command (Joint Task Force Southern Spear) carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel it described as operated by "Designated Terrorist Organizations" in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two men. USNI News identified it as the 50th strike since the administration's maritime lethal-force campaign began on September 1, 2025, putting the campaign's cumulative reported death toll at least 169. SOUTHCOM said the vessel was transiting known narco-trafficking routes but released no evidence that it carried drugs or posed an imminent threat.
ICE detains Iranian Ph.D. student Yousof Azizi and moves to deport him after BBC Persian commentary on U.S.–Iran war
Federal immigration agents detained Yousof Azizi, a 40-year-old Iranian Ph.D. candidate at Virginia Tech, outside his Germantown, Maryland home on April 13, 2026, and the Trump administration is moving to deport him. ICE has transferred him through facilities in Louisiana, Texas, and Arizona; his wife, his lawyers, and CAIR say the action is retaliation for his Persian-language media commentary on the U.S. war on Iran, while DHS says he misstated prior involvement with Iran's Student Basij Organization on his visa application and that his student visa was terminated after he failed to re-enroll at Virginia Tech for Fall 2025.
JTF Southern Spear killed five across two suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 48th-49th strikes, ~168 campaign deaths
On Saturday, April 11, 2026, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out two lethal kinetic strikes on two vessels it described as drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing five men and leaving one survivor of the first strike. SOUTHCOM said it notified the U.S. Coast Guard to launch a search-and-rescue effort for the survivor. The same-day double strike — reported as the campaign's 48th and 49th — brought Operation Southern Spear's cumulative reported death toll to at least 168, and as in prior strikes the military provided no evidence that the vessels were carrying drugs.
State Dept revokes Iranian asylees' green cards on debunked Soleimani-relation claim
On April 3, 2026, ICE arrested Iranian asylees Hamideh Soleimani Afshar and her adult daughter Sarina Hosseiny outside Los Angeles after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their green cards in a public statement identifying them as the niece and grandniece of slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. A subsequent Drop Site News investigation reviewing Iranian birth records, identification papers, and family wills found no familial connection to the late general — a finding corroborated by Soleimani's own surviving daughters in Iran. The women remain held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in San Antonio pending removal to Iran, where Hamideh, who has autoimmune hemolytic anemia, is reportedly being denied the transfusion treatment her condition requires.
ICE detains Army sergeant's newlywed wife inside Fort Polk during benefits registration
On April 2, 2026, federal immigration agents detained Annie Ramos, the 22-year-old newlywed wife of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Matthew Blank, inside Fort Polk, Louisiana, where the couple had gone to register her for a military ID and spouse benefits. Ramos, born in Honduras and brought to the U.S. before age 2, was held on a final removal order issued in absentia in 2005, when she was a toddler, despite a DACA application pending since 2020. After five days in detention she was released April 7 on an order of supervision with a GPS monitor, with removal proceedings continuing.
Judge found Border Patrol defied her injunction with boilerplate forms in Sacramento arrests
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston ruled in an order unsealed April 1, 2026, that U.S. Border Patrol agents defied her April 2025 preliminary injunction barring detentions without documented reasonable suspicion and warrantless arrests without a flight-risk finding. In a July 2025 sweep at a Sacramento Home Depot, agents arrested 12 people — 11 noncitizens and one U.S. citizen — using essentially identical, boilerplate I-213 forms that failed to document the required articulable facts. She ordered agents to write signed, individualized narrative reports supporting each stop.
ICE detains Milwaukee Islamic Society president Salah Sarsour over decades-old West Bank record
Roughly a dozen ICE vehicles surrounded Salah Sarsour — a lawful permanent resident of more than 30 years and five-year board president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, Wisconsin's largest Islamic organization — on Milwaukee's south side, where by his family's account a plainclothes officer pointed a gun at him before identifying the arrest as immigration custody. He was moved to the Broadview Detention Center in Illinois and then to a county jail in Indiana, and DHS publicly branded him a "terrorist" and an "illegal alien from Jordan," resting on an Israeli military-court conviction from his teenage years that his counsel says the government knew about when it admitted him in 1993. His attorneys say the government is also invoking the foreign-policy-threat ground used against Mahmoud Khalil and that the case is retaliation for his Palestinian-rights advocacy.
JTF Southern Spear killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; 47th strike, ~163 campaign deaths
On March 25, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted its 47th lethal kinetic strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people. SOUTHCOM identified the vessel as engaged in narco-trafficking but provided no public evidence against those killed and no identification of the victims. The strike drew international condemnation — UN special rapporteur Ben Saul had 13 days earlier called the campaign "serial extrajudicial killings" with "no justification under international law."
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 46th strike, ~158 campaign deaths
On March 19, 2026, U.S. Southern Command (Joint Task Force Southern Spear) carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel it described as transiting known narco-trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific Ocean, identified by USNI News as the 46th strike since the administration's maritime lethal-force campaign began on September 1, 2025. SOUTHCOM announced the strike the next day and said it had notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search and rescue for survivors; the Coast Guard ultimately rescued one survivor, and two people were killed. As throughout the campaign, which by this point had killed at least 156 people, those aboard were targeted without charge, trial, identification, or judicial authorization.
JTF Southern Spear killed six aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 45th strike, ~157 campaign deaths
On Sunday, March 8, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations," killing six men. SOUTHCOM said the strike was ordered by its commander, Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, and carried out by Joint Task Force Southern Spear against a boat allegedly transiting known narco-trafficking routes. It was the campaign's 45th announced strike, bringing Operation Southern Spear's reported cumulative death toll to roughly 156-157 people, and as in every prior strike the Pentagon provided no public evidence the vessel carried narcotics and did not identify those killed.
ICE conducts targeted, warrantless arrest of Nashville journalist Estefany Rodríguez
On March 4, 2026, ICE agents carried out a targeted, warrantless arrest of Estefany Rodríguez, the lead immigration reporter for Nashville's Spanish-language outlet Nashville Noticias, one day after she published a widely viewed video showing the identifiable faces of agents conducting a Middle Tennessee operation. Officers were found to have a photo of her logo-marked car and repeatedly identified her in custody as "the journalist"; she was held in isolation, transferred out of state to Alabama and Louisiana, and kept from her attorney from March 4 to March 14 before her release on $10,000 bond on March 19. A federal court ordered ICE to justify the arrest, and government attorneys argued that First Amendment protections "may not even be applicable to an illegal alien."
ICE used a false missing-child pretext to detain Columbia senior Ellie Aghayeva without a warrant
Around 6 a.m. on February 26, 2026, five federal ICE agents entered an off-campus Columbia University residential building without a judicial warrant by telling building staff they were police searching for a missing child, then arrested Elmina "Ellie" Aghayeva, a 29-year-old Columbia senior from Azerbaijan. Columbia said security-camera footage captured the agents using the missing-child story to gain entry; the Department of Homeland Security said her student visa had been revoked in 2016 and disputed assertions that agents impersonated NYPD officers. Aghayeva was released the same afternoon after New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani appealed directly to President Trump, and was placed in removal proceedings.
JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 44th strike, ~151 campaign deaths
On Feb. 23, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced that Joint Task Force Southern Spear, at the direction of SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the Caribbean it alleged was operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations and transiting known narco-trafficking routes, killing three men. As in prior strikes in the Operation Southern Spear campaign, the Pentagon presented no public evidence the vessel carried narcotics, did not identify those killed, and afforded no opportunity for interdiction, arrest, or judicial process. It was the last announced strike before a late-February pause; SOUTHCOM's next disclosed strike came on March 8, 2026.
JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 43rd strike, ~148 campaign deaths
On Friday, Feb. 20, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations," killing three men. SOUTHCOM said the strike was carried out at the direction of its commander, Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, by Joint Task Force Southern Spear against a boat allegedly transiting known narco-trafficking routes. Independent trackers count it as the campaign's 43rd announced strike; as in every prior strike, the Pentagon provided no public evidence the vessel carried narcotics, made no attempt to interdict or arrest, and did not identify those killed.
JTF Southern Spear killed eleven across three suspected narcotics vessels in Pacific and Caribbean; 40th-42nd strikes, ~145 campaign deaths
Late on Feb. 16, 2026, at the direction of U.S. Southern Command commander Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out three near-simultaneous "lethal kinetic strikes" on three vessels SOUTHCOM alleged were trafficking drugs along known routes, killing eleven men — four on each of two boats in the eastern Pacific and three on a third in the Caribbean. SOUTHCOM presented no evidence and made no attempt at interdiction, arrest, or judicial process, and no U.S. forces were harmed. It was the deadliest single day in the Operation Southern Spear boat-strike campaign to that point.
JTF Southern Spear killed three aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 39th strike, ~134 campaign deaths
On Feb. 13, 2026, at the direction of U.S. Southern Command commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea that SOUTHCOM alleged — without presenting evidence and without interdiction, arrest, or judicial process — was operated by a designated terrorist organization. Three men were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed. The strike is part of the open-ended Operation Southern Spear campaign of lethal strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 38th strike, ~131 campaign deaths
On Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, U.S. Southern Command announced a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean it described as "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations" and transiting known narco-trafficking routes, killing two of the three people aboard. SOUTHCOM said the strike was carried out at the direction of its commander, Gen. Francis L. Donovan, by Joint Task Force Southern Spear, and that it notified the U.S. Coast Guard to activate search-and-rescue for the lone survivor. As in every prior strike in the campaign, the Pentagon presented no public evidence the vessel carried narcotics, made no attempt to interdict or arrest, and did not identify those killed.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 37th strike, ~129 campaign deaths
On Feb. 5, 2026, at the direction of U.S. Southern Command commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a "lethal kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean that SOUTHCOM alleged — without presenting evidence and without interdiction, arrest, or judicial process — was operated by a designated terrorist organization. Two people were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed. The strike is part of the open-ended Operation Southern Spear campaign of lethal strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats.
JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 36th strike, ~117 campaign deaths
On January 23, 2026, Joint Task Force Southern Spear, operating at the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, conducted a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people and leaving one survivor. The strike was characterized by SOUTHCOM as targeting "Designated Terrorist Organizations" engaged in narco-trafficking, yet no public evidence was provided identifying the victims or their alleged activities. This was the 36th strike in the Southern Spear campaign since September 2025, resuming after a three-week gap following the January 3 capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
ICE flew a 2-year-old and her father to Texas despite a court order to release the toddler
On January 22, 2026, ICE agents detained Elvis Joel Tipan Echeverria and his 2-year-old daughter in south Minneapolis as they returned home from grocery shopping. After a federal judge ordered that the toddler not be moved out of state and be released, the government placed both on a commercial flight to Texas roughly twenty minutes later, in contravention of the order. The child was returned to her mother in Minnesota the next day; her father, who has an active asylum case, remained in federal custody.
ICE secretly deported eight shackled Palestinians from Phoenix to the occupied West Bank
On January 20, 2026, ICE flew eight Palestinian men - shackled at the wrists and ankles for the entire journey - out of a Phoenix deportation hub on a private jet bearing the emblem of Dezer Development, the company run by Trump donor Gil Dezer, with refueling stops in New Jersey, Ireland, and Bulgaria. The men landed at Ben Gurion Airport and were released by Israeli authorities at a military checkpoint near Ni'lin in the occupied West Bank, in an operation coordinated with Israel and approved by the Shin Bet. A joint +972 Magazine and Guardian investigation found the flight was one of at least two such secret removals in early 2026, carried out with little or no due process.
DHS denies Minneapolis immigration detainees, including a U.S. citizen, access to lawyers
During Operation Metro Surge, federal agents held people swept up in Minneapolis-area immigration raids — including at least one U.S. citizen — inside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building and systematically denied them access to attorneys. Lawyers reported being turned away for days with shifting, legally invalid excuses, while detainees were allowed an outgoing call only after being booked and transferred to out-of-state facilities. DHS denied any violation, but the pattern was corroborated by four named attorneys, two U.S. senators, and a class-action suit that produced a March 2026 court order requiring prompt attorney access before any transfer.
ICE breaks into St. Paul home at gunpoint and detains Hmong American U.S. citizen ChongLy Thao in his underwear; county probes it as kidnapping
On January 18, 2026, masked federal immigration agents broke down the door of ChongLy "Scott" Thao, a 56-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen of Hmong descent, in St. Paul, pointed guns at his family, and led him into subzero cold wearing only his underwear, Crocs, and a blanket. Agents handcuffed Thao in front of his young grandson and drove him around questioning him before fingerprinting confirmed he is a longtime citizen with no record, then returned him home without explanation. Ramsey County's attorney and sheriff opened an investigation into the federal agents' conduct as a possible kidnapping.
ICE breaks into St. Paul home in armed warrantless raid, detains six including a 12-year-old flown to Texas
On January 15, 2026, federal immigration agents broke through the door of a home on Nevada Avenue East in St. Paul, Minnesota, entered with assault rifles, and detained six members of a Venezuelan family — including a 12-year-old boy who was transported to an immigration center in San Antonio, Texas. Agents claimed a search warrant but never presented one; a document left on the doorstep the next day was an unfiled Ramsey County (state) court paper with no case number. On January 19, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim granted the family's habeas petition after DHS failed to produce a judicial warrant by his deadline, ordering the detainees returned to Minnesota and released within 72 hours.
2025
JTF Southern Spear killed five across two suspected narcotics vessels; 34th-35th strikes, ~115 campaign deaths
On Dec. 31, 2025, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out successive "lethal kinetic strikes" on two vessels U.S. Southern Command alleged were operated by designated terrorist organizations along known narco-trafficking routes, killing five people — three aboard the first vessel and two aboard the second. SOUTHCOM presented no evidence, identified no one, filed no charges, and reported no attempt at interdiction or arrest. These were the 34th and 35th strikes of Operation Southern Spear and are the earliest strikes in this archive's record of the campaign.
JTF Southern Spear struck convoy in eastern Pacific, killing three and abandoning survivors; 31st-33rd strikes, ~110 campaign deaths
On Dec. 30, 2025, at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted "lethal kinetic strikes" on a three-vessel convoy in the eastern Pacific that U.S. Southern Command described as operated by designated terrorist organizations along narco-trafficking routes, killing three people aboard the first boat. Men aboard the other two vessels jumped overboard before follow-on strikes sank the remaining boats; SOUTHCOM said it notified the Coast Guard for search and rescue, but the search began only after a roughly 45-hour delay and was suspended on Jan. 3 with no survivors found. The command identified no organization, made no evidence public, charged no one, and attempted no interdiction or arrest in what it counted as the 31st through 33rd strikes of a campaign that had by then killed at least 110 people.
JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 30th strike, ~107 campaign deaths
On Dec. 29, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon's Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal "kinetic strike" on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people. U.S. Southern Command claimed the boat was operated by designated terrorist organizations and engaged in narco-trafficking but provided no evidence to support the claim. It was the 30th known boat strike in the campaign since Sept. 2, bringing the reported death toll to at least 107.
CIA drone strike hits dock on Venezuela's coast — first known U.S. attack on Venezuelan soil
On or about December 24, 2025, the CIA carried out a drone strike on a dock on Venezuela's coast that U.S. officials said was used by the gang Tren de Aragua to load drugs onto boats; no one was reported on the dock and no one was killed. It was the first known U.S. attack inside Venezuelan territory, a sharp escalation of the administration's pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro beyond the at-sea "drug boat" strikes. President Trump publicly claimed credit, saying the U.S. had "knocked out" a "big facility" in "the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs."
JTF Southern Spear killed one aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 29th strike, ~105 campaign deaths
On Dec. 22, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out a "lethal kinetic strike" on a low-profile semi-submersible vessel transiting international waters in the eastern Pacific, killing one person, U.S. Southern Command announced. SOUTHCOM said the vessel was operated by an unnamed designated terrorist organization along a known narco-trafficking route but released no evidence of drugs aboard or of an imminent threat, and reported no attempt at interdiction or arrest. It was the 29th strike of Operation Southern Spear, which had killed 105 people since early September.
JTF Southern Spear killed five across two suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 27th-28th strikes, ~104 campaign deaths
On December 18, 2025, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out two successive lethal strikes on vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean — the 27th and 28th of the campaign — killing five people in total, according to U.S. Southern Command. The command asserted the boats were operated by designated terrorist organizations on known narco-trafficking routes but provided no charges, evidence, or attempt at interdiction or arrest. The strikes pushed the campaign's reported cumulative death toll past 100.
JTF Southern Spear killed four aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 26th strike, ~99 campaign deaths
On December 17, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four people. U.S. Southern Command described the boat as operated by a designated terrorist organization along a known narco-trafficking route, but provided no charges, judicial process, or independent evidence. The same day, Senate war-powers resolutions intended to constrain the campaign failed to reach the floor.
JTF Southern Spear killed eight across three suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 23rd-25th strikes, ~95 campaign deaths
On December 15, 2025, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear carried out lethal strikes on three vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean — the 23rd strike of Operation Southern Spear — killing eight people. U.S. Southern Command asserted the boats belonged to designated terrorist organizations transiting known narco-trafficking routes but filed no charges, released no evidence, identified no individuals, and reported no attempt at interdiction or arrest. Lawmakers from both parties questioned the legality of the strikes as the campaign's reported death toll reached approximately 95.
JTF Southern Spear killed four aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 22nd strike, ~87 campaign deaths
On December 4, 2025, U.S. Southern Command's Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters in the eastern Pacific, killing four people on board. The Department of Defense claimed the boat was operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and was carrying narcotics, but released no supporting evidence. The strike was one of roughly 23 carried out since early September 2025, in which approximately 87 people had been killed without arrest, charge, or any judicial process.
USCIS froze asylum applications and immigration benefits for 19 travel-ban countries, ordered green-card review
On December 2, 2025, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow issued Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192 placing an indefinite hold on all pending affirmative asylum applications and freezing adjudication of immigration benefits—including green cards, work permits, and naturalization—for nationals of 19 countries subject to the June 2025 travel ban, while also ordering a review of every green card already issued to people from those countries. The memo cited Executive Order 14161 and a November 26 shooting near the White House as justification and stated the freeze would remain until lifted by a future directive. On June 5, 2026, a federal court vacated the policies as contrary to law and pretextual.
State Department cable halted all Afghan visa processing worldwide, including SIVs for wartime allies
On November 29, 2025, the State Department sent a cable to every U.S. diplomatic post ordering consular officers to stop processing and refuse all visa applications from Afghan nationals — immigrant, non-immigrant, and Special Immigrant Visas — effective immediately. The cable also instructed officers to cancel any authorized-but-unprinted visas and to destroy already-printed ones, while Secretary of State Rubio publicly confirmed the halt. The directive was triggered by the November 26 shooting of two National Guard members near the White House by an Afghan national, and applied collectively to all Afghans regardless of individual circumstances or prior approval status.
USCIS halted all asylum decisions nationwide after National Guard shooting
On November 28, 2025, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow ordered asylum officers to immediately stop approving, denying, or closing any asylum application nationwide, regardless of the applicant's nationality, following the shooting of two National Guard members near the White House by an Afghan national. The indefinite halt suspended the statutory asylum adjudication process under INA §208 for all pending applicants, freezing them in limbo with no path to a decision or hearing, and served as the originating operational directive later formalized by the December 2, 2025 USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192.
USCIS halted all asylum decisions for applicants of every nationality after D.C. National Guard shooting
On November 28, 2025, USCIS Director Joseph Edlow announced that the agency had "halted all asylum decisions" pending completion of enhanced vetting for "every alien," telling officers they could continue interviews up to the point of decision but could not approve, deny, or close any application regardless of the applicant's nationality. The operational directive—issued two days after an Afghan national shot two National Guard members near the White House—went beyond the concurrent Afghan-specific pause and froze affirmative asylum adjudication nationwide. CBS News reported the officer guidance on November 29. The pause was later formalized in USCIS Policy Memorandum PM-602-0192 (December 2, 2025) and declared unlawful by a federal court on June 5, 2026.
USCIS indefinitely halted all Afghan immigration requests—asylum, green cards, SIVs—hours after D.C. shooting
On November 26, 2025, USCIS announced it was immediately and indefinitely pausing processing of all immigration requests from Afghan nationals, covering asylum seekers, green-card applicants, work-permit renewals, family petitions, and Special Immigrant Visa applicants, many of whom aided U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan. The agency imposed the halt by announcement with no rulemaking, no end date, and no individualized review, citing security-vetting concerns in the hours following an alleged shooting by an Afghan national near the White House.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 21st strike, ~80 campaign deaths
On November 15, 2025, U.S. Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing 3 people. U.S. Southern Command announced the strike the following day, identifying the vessel as operated by a "Designated Terrorist Organization" involved in "illicit narcotics smuggling" but offering no evidence, trial, or judicial process. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the strike on President Trump's orders; it was the 21st confirmed strike of the campaign.
Defense Secretary Hegseth formally named Operation Southern Spear, launching large-scale military campaign without congressional authorization
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally announced "Operation Southern Spear" on November 13, 2025, after approximately 20 U.S. strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific had killed roughly 80 people without congressional authorization. The announcement coincided with deployment orders for the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, bringing roughly 12,000 U.S. sailors and Marines to the region in what officials described as the largest U.S. military buildup in Latin America in generations. Trump publicly stated he would not seek a war declaration from Congress.
JTF Southern Spear killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 20th strike, ~79 campaign deaths
On November 10, 2025, U.S. forces conducted the 20th strike of what would become Operation Southern Spear, killing four people with "no survivors" in the Caribbean Sea. Three days later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally named and announced the campaign, citing this strike as the milestone. A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed 79 people killed across 20 strikes; no evidence of drug trafficking was publicly disclosed and Congress had not authorized the operation.
JTF Southern Spear killed 6 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 19th strike, ~73 campaign deaths
U.S. forces struck two vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean on November 9, 2025, killing six people — three aboard each vessel. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strikes the following day, claiming the boats were associated with narcotics smuggling but providing no evidence. The operation was the 19th strike in the Southern Spear campaign, bringing reported total deaths to approximately 73.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; 18th strike, ~69 campaign deaths
U.S. forces struck a vessel in the Caribbean Sea on November 6, 2025, killing three people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike that evening on X, stating it was conducted "at the direction of" President Trump and targeted a "vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization," but provided no public evidence of drug trafficking. The operation was the 18th strike of the Southern Spear campaign, bringing reported total deaths to approximately 69.
JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 17th strike, ~67 campaign deaths
U.S. military forces struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on November 4, 2025, killing two people aboard. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media, alleging the vessel was traveling a known narcotics route; no evidence was provided. The strike was the 17th of the Southern Spear campaign, bringing the documented campaign death toll to at least 67.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 15th strike, ~50 campaign deaths
On November 1, 2025, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal strike against an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing three crew members. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the strike via social media, claiming the vessel was operated by a "Designated Terrorist Organization" involved in narcotics smuggling; no evidence was presented and no judicial process preceded the killings.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 16th strike, ~62 campaign deaths
U.S. military forces killed three people aboard a vessel in the Caribbean Sea on November 1, 2025, in the 16th strike of the Southern Spear campaign. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on X, claiming the vessel was "known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling," but no public evidence was presented. The strike brought documented campaign deaths to approximately 62, and the campaign continued without formal congressional authorization or judicial process.
JTF Southern Spear killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 14th strike, ~59 campaign deaths
U.S. Joint Task Force forces struck an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on October 29, 2025, killing four people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media, stating it was carried out "at the direction of President Donald Trump" against a vessel "operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization." No public evidence was presented for the trafficking allegation.
JTF Southern Spear killed 14 aboard suspected narcotics vessels in eastern Pacific; 13th strike, ~[N] campaign deaths
U.S. Joint Task Force Southern Command conducted three separate strikes on Oct. 27, 2025 in the eastern Pacific, killing 14 people total. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced all three strikes in a single post, marking the first time multiple strikes were announced in a single day. No substantiating evidence was presented for alleged drug-trafficking. One survivor was spotted clinging to debris; Mexican Navy search operations ended October 31 with no survivor located.
JTF Southern Spear killed six aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 10th strike, ~14 campaign deaths
On October 24, 2025, U.S. forces conducted the 10th strike of Operation Southern Spear, killing six people aboard a vessel in the Caribbean Sea. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media, claiming the vessel was "operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea," and that it was the first Southern Spear strike conducted at night. No public evidence was provided for the TdA affiliation or drug-trafficking allegation, and the identities of those killed were not disclosed.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 9th strike, ~16 campaign deaths
On October 22, 2025, U.S. forces conducted the ninth strike of Operation Southern Spear, killing three people aboard an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike on social media and characterized the targeted organizations as "the 'al-Qaida' of our hemisphere." The administration provided no public evidence that the vessel or crew engaged in drug trafficking. The strike continued despite Congressional War Powers resolutions attempting to limit the campaign.
JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 8th strike, ~14 campaign deaths
On October 21, 2025, a U.S. military strike in the Eastern Pacific Ocean off the Colombian coast killed two people aboard an alleged drug smuggling vessel. This marked the first Southern Spear operation in the Eastern Pacific, expanding the campaign beyond the Caribbean where strikes had begun in September 2025. UN human rights experts characterized the strike as "extrajudicial executions," asserting it lacked proper legal authority under international law.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 7th strike, ~18 campaign deaths
On October 17, 2025, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) conducted a military strike in the Caribbean Sea targeting a vessel that the U.S. claimed was affiliated with the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), Colombia's largest remaining guerrilla organization. The strike killed three people. The ELN publicly denied that the targeted vessel was engaged in drug-boat trafficking in international waters. No survivors were reported.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 7th strike, ~14 campaign deaths
On October 17, 2025, the U.S. military conducted a lethal strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in international waters in the Caribbean Sea, killing three men. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the operation on October 19, characterizing the men as "narco-terrorists" and stating they were transported "substantial amounts of narcotics." The strike was directed by President Donald Trump as part of Operation Southern Spear, an ongoing military campaign launched without congressional authorization.
U.S. military killed 2 in Caribbean narco-submarine strike; survivors released without charges after Trump called them 'terrorists'
On October 16, 2025, U.S. Southern Command forces struck a narco-submarine in the Caribbean Sea, killing two people and leaving two survivors—one Colombian and one Ecuadorian. President Trump publicly called the survivors "terrorists" and said they would be detained and prosecuted. Both were repatriated and released without charges on November 6, contradicting Trump's terrorism designation.
JTF Southern Spear killed 2 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 8th strike, ~18 campaign deaths
On October 16, 2025, U.S. military forces under U.S. Southern Command conducted a lethal strike on a semi-submersible vessel in the Caribbean Sea, killing two people and wounding two survivors. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the strike, alleging narcotics trafficking, but provided no independent evidence. President Trump publicly labeled the survivors "terrorists"; both were later repatriated and released without charges.
JTF Southern Spear killed 6 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 5th strike, ~17 campaign deaths
On October 14, 2025, the U.S. military conducted an airstrike on a small vessel in the Caribbean Sea off the Venezuelan coast, killing six people. Trump claimed the vessel was affiliated with a terrorist organization and the victims were drug traffickers, but families identified them as civilian fishermen and farm workers. The strike was conducted without congressional authorization or military adjudication of combatant status.
JTF Southern Spear killed 4 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 4th strike, ~20 campaign deaths
U.S. military struck a small vessel in international waters off Venezuela's coast on October 3, killing four men. Defense Secretary Hegseth announced the strike without providing evidence of drug trafficking. The strike occurred after Trump declared a 'non-international armed conflict' with drug cartels and despite Senate opposition to strikes without authorization.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean Sea; 3rd strike, ~17 campaign deaths
On September 19, 2025, U.S. forces struck an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean Sea in a joint operation with the Dominican Republic, killing three men. President Trump announced the strike on social media but provided no location, victims' identities, or evidence of trafficking. The Dominican Republic independently disclosed that the vessel was approximately 80 nautical miles south of Beata Island and later recovered 1,000 kilograms of cocaine from the wreck.
JTF Southern Spear killed 3 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in Caribbean; 2nd strike, ~[N] campaign deaths
On September 15, 2025, President Trump announced a U.S. military strike in the Caribbean killing three men aboard a vessel he alleged was trafficking drugs. Colombian President Gustavo Petro subsequently alleged that one of the three was a Colombian fisherman and that the boat was in Colombian territorial waters, not international waters as Trump claimed. Trump dismissed the allegation as "baseless."
JTF Southern Spear killed 11 aboard suspected narcotics vessel in southern Caribbean; 1st strike, ~11 campaign deaths
On September 2, 2025, U.S. military forces conducting Operation Southern Spear struck a vessel in the southern Caribbean, killing eleven people the Trump administration labeled Tren de Aragua narcoterrorists. President Trump announced the action on Truth Social and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted video of the explosion, but neither provided public evidence identifying those aboard as drug traffickers or gang members. The strike was conducted without congressional authorization or judicial process and was the first publicly acknowledged U.S. military airstrike in the Americas since the 1989 Panama invasion.
Pentagon authorized up to 600 military JAG lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges
On August 27, 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo authorizing the Department of Defense to detail up to 600 Judge Advocate General lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges under the Justice Department's Executive Office for Immigration Review on assignments of up to 179 days. The authorization followed the DOJ's removal of the prior-immigration-experience requirement for temporary judges. Military JAGs would receive approximately two weeks of training before serving; the first cohort of five was sworn in on May 20, 2026, in the largest investiture class in EOIR history.
Supreme Court 6-3 stayed order requiring torture screening before third-country deportations, enabling removals to South Sudan and Libya
The Supreme Court voted 6-3 on June 23, 2025, to stay a federal district court order that had required the Trump administration to provide immigrants a meaningful opportunity to contest removal to dangerous third countries before deportation. The stay immediately allowed the administration to resume removals to South Sudan, Libya, and El Salvador under bilateral agreements, without any screening for Convention Against Torture claims. Justice Sotomayor dissented sharply, writing that the administration had "repeatedly defied" the lower court order and calling the Supreme Court's intervention "so gross an abuse of the Court's equitable discretion."
Supreme Court 7-2 stayed injunction blocking CHNV parole termination, enabling DHS to revoke status for 532,000 noncitizens
On May 30, 2025, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration's emergency application to stay a federal injunction, allowing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to proceed with terminating humanitarian parole for more than 532,000 noncitizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela admitted under the Biden-era CHNV programs. The unsigned 7-2 order — with Justices Jackson and Sotomayor dissenting — cleared the way to revoke parole status without the individualized case-by-case review that the district court's injunction had required. Justice Jackson wrote that the majority had "plainly botched" the ruling and decried the "devastating consequences" of upending the lives of nearly half a million people while their legal claims remained pending.
DOJ filed motion to terminate Flores Settlement Agreement, eliminating court-ordered protections for immigrant children in custody
On May 22, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion in federal court to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement, a 1997 court settlement that has set minimum care standards and a 20-day detention cap for immigrant children in federal custody for nearly three decades. Attorney General Pam Bondi's DOJ argued termination was warranted by post-settlement regulations and a 2022 Supreme Court ruling. Judge Dolly Gee denied the motion in August 2025, finding the government remained in substantial noncompliance with the settlement's terms.
ICE Acting Director Lyons issued classified memo authorizing warrantless home entry for immigration arrests
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons issued an internal memo on May 12, 2025, directing agents to forcibly enter private homes using administrative warrants signed by ICE supervisors rather than judges, departing from longstanding Fourth Amendment practice and prior DHS policy requiring judicial warrants for home entry. The memo was classified for restricted internal distribution—agents were required to return it and take no notes—and was reportedly used to train new ICE agents. Whistleblowers disclosed the memo to Senator Blumenthal in January 2026; NBC News published the full account.
HHS issued interim final rule permitting ICE and CBP to access sponsors' immigration status, reinstating first-term enforcement arrangement
On March 25, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services published an interim final rule (90 Fed. Reg. 13554) that rescinded a Biden-era prohibition on sharing the immigration status of unaccompanied children's sponsors with ICE and CBP for enforcement purposes. The rule, effective immediately, also removed the prohibition on disqualifying potential sponsors based solely on their immigration status. The IFR reinstated a memorandum of agreement from Trump's first term under which approximately 170 undocumented sponsors who came forward to claim children in federal custody had been arrested by ICE.
DHS Secretary Noem terminated CHNV parole programs, stripping lawful status from 532,000 noncitizens without individualized review
On March 25, 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem published Federal Register Notice 2025-05128 (90 FR 13611) formally terminating the Biden-era categorical parole programs for inadmissible noncitizens from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The termination took effect immediately; the approximately 532,000 current parolees were given until April 24, 2025 to depart the United States. Each had been individually vetted and admitted under 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5), but their status was revoked through a single blanket notice with no individualized review of reliance interests or changed circumstances.
Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport 250+ Venezuelans to El Salvador's CECOT, defying federal court order
On March 15, 2025, President Trump signed a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to designate members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as "alien enemies" subject to immediate removal without normal immigration proceedings. That same day, the administration flew more than 250 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador's CECOT maximum-security prison without individualized hearings. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order blocking further AEA deportations that evening, which the administration defied — the planes had already landed.
ICE detains Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil over pro-Palestinian activism; no criminal charges filed
On March 8, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Mahmoud Khalil — a lawful permanent resident and Columbia University graduate student who had been a prominent organizer of pro-Palestinian campus protests — with no criminal charges filed against him. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked 8 U.S.C. § 1227(a)(4)(C), a rarely-used statute permitting deportation on foreign-policy grounds, as the basis for removal. Khalil was transferred to an ICE detention facility in Jena, Louisiana, where he was held for approximately three months while his attorneys argued the government was retaliating against him for constitutionally protected political speech.
Trump signed EO 14159 expanding expedited removal to US interior, eliminating immigration court hearings for non-citizens
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14159, directing DHS to expand expedited removal to the fullest extent authorized by statute. DHS implemented the order via a Federal Register designation effective January 21, 2025, extending expedited removal authority to any non-citizen anywhere in the United States who could not prove at least two years of continuous presence. Previously, the procedure had applied only to migrants apprehended at or near the border; the expansion allowed interior deportations without any hearing before an immigration judge.