Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Deportation flights in the United States have reached historic levels under President Donald Trump's administration, according to activist reports and tracking data.
Organizations such as The Resistance in Seattle and the group Witness at the Border, led by former banker Tom Cartwright, have documented a significant increase in the number of deportation flights since the start of the president's second term. In July 2025, Cartwright recorded 1,214 deportation-related flights, the highest number since he began tracking in January 2020. From January to July 2025, 5,962 flights were recorded, representing an increase of 41% compared to the same period in 2024.
Most of these flights They are operated by airlines such as GlobalX, Eastern Air Express and Avelo Airlines, that transport immigrants to other airports to be transferred to international flights or directly to countries in Central America and Mexico.
However, activists have reported that airlines are taking steps to hide information about these flights. They use fake call signs and block aircraft tail numbers through the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Limiting Aircraft Data Displayed (LADD) program, making it difficult to track them on public flight-tracking websites.
New methods in the face of lack of transparency
Faced with this lack of transparency, immigrant rights groups have turned to alternative methods to monitor flights, such as sharing information among organizations and using open-source data exchanges that track aircraft transmissions.
Another method is to increase surveillance at local airports, such as King County International Airport in Seattle, where deportation flights have been documented.
The lack of information about deportation flights makes it difficult to locate detained immigrants and raises concerns among human rights advocates, who are demanding greater transparency and accountability in immigration operations.
For more stories like this, follow More Latin.
Sources:
English 
Spanish 