Courts Have Ruled That ICE Illegally Jailed People More Than 4,400 Times in Less Than Five Months
In some cases, the administration has kept immigrants locked up even after a judge has ordered their release, according to an investigation by Reuters.
I warned about the Trump administration’s “crackdown” on illegals as soon as it began, and it became apparent that it wasn’t just illegal aliens that were being arrested, deported and imprisoned. Instead, it was people who were lawfully here and even American citizens! Now, a new report indicates that over 4,400 people were illegally jailed by the unconstitutional agency, carrying out unconstitutional duties, in less than five months!
Think about that a second. Lawless, armed, masked thugs violated more than 4,400 people’s rights in less than five months! Yet, no one is held accountable for these crimes.
Common Dreams reports:
Judges across the country have ruled more than 4,400 times since the start of October that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has illegally detained immigrants, according to a Reuters investigation published Saturday.
As President Donald Trump carries out his unprecedented “mass deportation” crusade, the number of people in ICE custody ballooned to 68,000 this month, up 75% from when he took office.
Midway through 2025, the administration had begun pushing for a daily quota of 3,000 arrests per day, with the goal of reaching 1 million per year. This has led to the targeting of mostly people with no criminal records rather than the “worst of the worst,” as the administration often claims.
Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn’t stopped. https://t.co/a5qRuwbRHP https://t.co/a5qRuwbRHP
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 14, 2026
Reuters’ reporting suggests chasing this number has also resulted in a staggering number of arrests that judges have later found to be illegal.
Since the beginning of Trump’s term, immigrants have filed more than 20,200 habeas corpus petitions, claiming they were held indefinitely without trial in violation of the Constitution.
In at least 4,421 cases, more than 400 federal judges have ruled that their detentions were illegal.
Last month, more than 6,000 habeas petitions were filed. Prior to the second Trump administration, no other month dating back to 2010 had seen even 500.
(Graphic by Reuters)
In part due to the sheer volume of legal challenges, the Trump administration has often failed to comply with court rulings, leaving people locked up even after judges ordered them to be released.
Reuters’ new report is the most comprehensive examination to date of the administration’s routine violation of the law with respect to immigration enforcement. But the extent to which federal immigration agencies have violated the law under Trump is hardly new information.
In a ruling last month, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the US District Court in Minnesota—a conservative jurist appointed by former President George W. Bush—provided a list of nearly 100 court orders ICE had violated just that month while deployed as part of Trump’s Operation Metro Surge.
The report of ICE’s systemic violation of the law comes as the agency faces heightened scrutiny on Capitol Hill, with leaders of the agency called to testify and Democrats attempting to hold up funding in order to force reforms to ICE’s conduct, which resulted in a partial shutdown beginning Saturday.
