Important Stuff to Know About: Building the Ice Gulag, Part 4: Emptying the Gulag – Removal

This is the last in the series of four articles that examines the way in which the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department (ICE) under Trump has created a vertically integrated structure that relies on a massive multi-year appropriation from Congress, its newly recruited paramilitary detention force, Roberts Court Shadow Docket decisions, and the ability to operate without fear of serious legal consequences to apprehend, detain, and remove thousands of undocumented individuals currently residing in the United States

The cavalier manner in which ICE conducts its deportation/rendition flights to remove individuals from the United States, many of whom are in the process of having their refugee status adjudicated.

From the earliest day of 2025, the Trump administration demonstrated how aggressive its removal operations would be, sending a large group of Venezuelan immigrants to the notorious CECOT prison camp in El Salvador. DHS claimed without evidence that these men were all members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA). Four of the five removal flights to CECOT were in defiance of court orders. The removals were justified through presidential invocation of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) that made the absurd claim that the United States was being invaded by TdA. By invoking the AEA, the administration hoped it could remove thousands of Venezuelans without due process, even when Federal courts had ordered a stop to these removal flights. When countries refused to grant landing permits to planes loaded with detainees, the administration immediately threatened retaliatory action, to include imposing prohibitive tariffs. In a twist of particular cruelty, ICE has rapidly expanded third-country deportations this year, sending hundreds of detainees to countries with which they had no contact, and with no due process. When a Federal District Court ordered a fifteen-day pause in third-country deportations, the Roberts Majority once again came to the rescue via the Shadow Docket, authorizing such flights while litigation continued. Detainees are given as little as six hours’ notice before removal, effectively denying individuals any form of meaningful due process.

In February of this year, District Court Judge Brian Murphy issued an 81-page order again halting the flights, finding they represented a gross violation of due process rights of individuals who are living in the United States. As practiced by ICE, third-country removals deprive individuals of adequate notice, require no factual basis, and make any substantive challenge impossible. The order was paused for fifteen days to allow ICE to appeal. Among other things, the order noted the utter cruelty of using South Sudan as a third-country landing zone. The Roberts Court, having allowed this program to continue once, will now have the chance to decide the case on the merits.

Rapid removal is the final and essential component of the vertically integrated ICE program. There have been limited occasions where courts have required the Government to return individuals who have been removed from the country in violation of an existing court order. The most visible example was Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who had protected status against forced return to El Salvador but was subjected to a warrantless arrest, immediate removal to his native El Salvador, and confinement in CECOT, none of which had any discernible legal basis. This was a rare Supreme Court intervention on behalf of a detainee. Since he was returned to the United States, he has been subjected to non-stop efforts to detain, prosecute, and remove him.

The Government continues to remove detained individuals, even where there is an active request for refugee status or where the individuals have legal status. DHS has removed over 80 individuals protected by DACA, apparently without any due process, and notwithstanding their legal status. By definition, these adults were brought here as children, have lived their entire lives in the United States, and have no ties to their country of birth. DHS recently has attempted to send back to Iran an ethnic Iranian woman who was adopted at the age of two, brought to the United States by her adoptive parents, raised believing that she was a US citizen, but whose adoptive parents failed to complete the paperwork for her naturalization. It is not clear if DHS will wait until the current American and Israeli bombing campaign ends before attempting to return her to Iran.

In another sadistic twist, undocumented individuals who have received court protection against removal to their home country are targeted for third-country removal. In theory, removal may only occur once DHS receives credible assurances that the detainees will be treated humanely and that their human rights will be respected. A recent case involved removal of a Moroccan woman to Cameroon, who was seeking refugee status and who was protected from being sent to Morocco. Homosexuality is also illegal in Cameroon; in effect, Cameroon was used as a way station to avoid directly violating the judicial order. When the outcome is the same, she is reportedly living in hiding in Morocco, the Government’s contempt for the law is obvious. Cruelty is a convenient method of dehumanizing undocumented individuals. DHS recently dropped off a blind man with refugee status outside a closed restaurant in the middle of winter in upstate New York, misrepresented what it had done, and has expressed no regret that the refugee’s body was discovered several days later.

Much has been written about the US Government’s rendition program. The ICE removal program is much broader and more insidious. It relies on financial rewards to small countries that agree to allow ICE removal flights to land and offload people who have no connection to where they have been kicked off the plane. The problem is solved in terms of US official policy in that there are now fewer undocumented people in the United States, regardless of whether they would qualify for refugee status or asylum under US law. Having achieved another tactical success, the vertically integrated system then restarts the process that will only end when millions of people are redistributed all over the globe.

James Petrila spent over thirty years as a lawyer in the Intelligence Community, working at the National Security Agency and, for most of his career, at the Central Intelligence Agency. He has taught courses on counterterrorism law and legal issues at the CIA at the George Washington University School of Law. He is currently a senior advisor to the Institute for the Study of States of Exception and is a member of The Steady State.

All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the US Government. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying US Government authentication of information or endorsement of the author’s views.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.