US immigration enforcement flights have produced hundreds of thousands of metric tonnes of climate-damaging carbon emissions as officials move unprecedented numbers of people to detention centres and deport them worldwide, according to data analysis shared exclusively with the Guardian.
Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign has spurred at least an 80% increase in such flights year over year, accelerating the climate crisis. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) air operations pumped an estimated 335,876 tonnes of carbon emissions in 2025, up 88% from the previous year. The first four months of 2026 show the agency is on track to contribute even more to global heating.
“We’ve seen a staggering increase of all US immigration [enforcement] flights,” including “the number of flights as well as the locations that the flights are going to,” said Savitri Arvey, director of research and analysis for refugee and immigrant rights at Human Rights First (HRF).
Brett Heinz, global policy coordinator at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), which calculated the emissions, said: “When we try to inflict suffering on immigrants, it … inflicts a lot of suffering on them – it also inflicts suffering on ourselves, on everyone. The pollution that these flights cause is causing harms to every single family in the United States.”
The emissions exacerbate the climate crisis, a driver of irregular migration, while polluting air in local communities used as flight hubs, such as Phoenix, El Paso, Harlingen and Alexandria. Of more than 60,000 people detained as of early April, over 70% have no criminal convictions, and the repatriation rate for those without convictions or a final deportation order has doubled.
Allegations of human rights violations continue, including routine shackling and use of a body-restraint suit on long-haul flights. The AFSC used HRF tracking data and ICAO methodology to estimate emissions, which the Guardian independently verified. In the first four months of 2026, ICE operations contributed 139,594 tonnes of carbon, indicating a potential 25% increase in annual emissions over 2025.
