Due process concerns mount as detention numbers soar and legal battles multiply
The first year of President Trump’s second term has produced an unprecedented volume of immigration-related legal battles, with federal courts across the country grappling with challenges to expanded enforcement actions, soaring detention numbers, and what civil liberties organizations describe as a systematic dismantling of due process protections.
By early 2026, the scale of immigration enforcement had reached historic levels. Interior arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement quadrupled compared to the previous administration, with daily arrests climbing to approximately 1,200, the highest levels since the Obama era. The daily immigration detention population grew from around 39,000 at the start of the administration to nearly 70,000 by January 2026, according to data compiled by the Migration Policy Institute. Street arrests, once a relatively rare phenomenon, increased by a factor of eleven.
The legal system has struggled to keep pace. Hundreds of immigration judges rejected the administration’s mandatory detention policy, according to reporting by Politico in January 2026. Federal courts have been inundated with habeas petitions challenging unlawful detentions, as advocates argue that individuals are being held without adequate justification or access to bond hearings. A December 2025 federal court ruling in Washington, D.C. ordered a halt to warrantless immigration arrests in Oregon, marking one of several judicial interventions attempting to impose guardrails on enforcement operations.
The birthright citizenship question looms large over the legal landscape. The administration’s executive order seeking to end the constitutional guarantee that children born on U.S. soil are citizens has been blocked by multiple lower courts. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, scheduling oral arguments that could produce one of the most consequential constitutional rulings in decades. Lower courts found that the order violates both the Fourteenth Amendment’s citizenship clause and the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Civil liberties organizations have documented what they describe as a system that prioritizes deportation volume over legal proceedings. The American Immigration Council reported that by November 2025, for every person released from ICE detention, more than fourteen were deported directly from custody, compared to a roughly one-to-two ratio a year earlier. The administration simultaneously reduced oversight capacity, cutting funding to internal watchdogs and restricting congressional inspections of detention facilities.
State governments have responded with a range of countermeasures. Several states enacted policies limiting local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities, while others expanded funding for immigrant legal services. However, the administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act provided ICE with a massive infusion of cash, enabling the expansion of detention beds from around 40,000 in January 2025 to over 60,000 by October.
Legal experts note that the courts will continue to play a central role in defining the boundaries of executive enforcement authority throughout 2026. Multiple states have filed suits challenging expanded enforcement practices on constitutional grounds, and judicial decisions on detention limits and procedural safeguards could reshape immigration policy for years to come.
For immigrant communities, the legal uncertainty has had immediate practical consequences. Nonprofit organizations in affected areas reported significant increases in emergency calls and family crisis interventions, while schools in communities with heightened enforcement activity documented higher student absenteeism and reduced participation in extracurricular activities.
Sources
1. “Unleashing Power in New Ways: Immigration Policy in Trump’s Second Term” — Migration Policy Institute, February 2026. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/trump-2-immigration-1st-year
2. “Immigration Enforcement in the First Nine Months of the Second Trump Administration” — Deportation Data Project, January 27, 2026. https://deportationdata.org/analysis/immigration-enforcement-first-nine-months-trump.html
3. “Weaponizing the System: One Year of Trump’s Attacks on Due Process” — Vera Institute, January 2026. https://www.vera.org/explainers/weaponizing-the-system-one-year-of-trumps-attacks-on-due-process
4. “Immigration Detention Is Harsher and Less Accountable Than Ever” — American Immigration Council, February 2026. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/press-release/report-trump-immigration-detention-2026/
5. “Protecting Immigrant Communities: How States Can Lead in 2026” — American Immigration Council, December 19, 2025. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/protecting-immigrants-how-states-can-lead-in-2026/
