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Ice director wants to run deportations like ‘Amazon Prime for human beings’
- Marina Dunbar, The Guardian
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Todd Lyons said he wanted US immigration agency to be ‘like a business’ in its deportation process
The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said he would like the agency to implement a system of trucks that rounds up immigrants for deportation in a system similar to how Amazon delivers packages around the US.
“We need to get better at treating this like a business,” the acting Ice director, Todd Lyons, said. He said that he wanted to see a deportation process “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings”. His comments were first reported by the Arizona Mirror.
Lyons was one of a series of Trump administration speakers at the 2025 Border Security Expo at the Phoenix convention center. Other speakers were Trump’s “border czar”, Tom Homan, and the secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem.
The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said he would like the agency to implement a system of trucks that rounds up immigrants for deportation in a system similar to how Amazon delivers packages around the US.
“We need to get better at treating this like a business,” the acting Ice director, Todd Lyons, said. He said that he wanted to see a deportation process “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings”. His comments were first reported by the Arizona Mirror.
Lyons was one of a series of Trump administration speakers at the 2025 Border Security Expo at the Phoenix convention center. Other speakers were Trump’s “border czar”, Tom Homan, and the secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem.
Several speakers, Homan included, echoed the opinion of having a deportation system that is run like a business, with assurance that the Trump administration is depending on the private sector for completion of its mass deportation agenda. Many representatives from the military-industrial complex were in attendance.
“Let the badge and guns do the badge-and-gun stuff. Everything else, let’s contract out,” Homan said.
Trump campaigned heavily on implementing a system of mass deportation, and has spent his presidency so far attempting to deliver on his campaign promises. Data suggests as many as 1,400 people were arrested during or right after Ice check-ins in the first four weeks of his administration.
One of Trump’s first actions after he was sworn in for his second term was to broaden Ice’s mandate. Now all immigrants without legal status are prioritized for arrest, including those who have been checking in and cooperating with authorities.
“Ice’s fantasy of becoming ‘Amazon Prime for deportations’ exposes the infrastructure behind Trump’s deportation agenda: mass removals powered by big tech and data,” Cinthya Rodriguez, national organizer for the Latinx advocacy group Mijente, said. “Over the years, Ice has contracted with tech companies to automate policing, relying on the dehumanization of immigrant communities.
“To seek to automate deportations at Amazon-like speed only furthers that harm,” she added “These policies are cruel, reckless and driven by white supremacy and greed – not safety.”
Avelo Airlines recently said it had signed an agreement to fly federal deportation flights for the administration from Mesa, Arizona, beginning in May. Several thousand people signed a petition urging the airline to halt plans to carry out the deportation flights.
The mass deportations and ongoing cases of people being detained by Ice has caused unease and fear among immigrants and foreign visitors to the US. Recent data suggests that flight bookings between Canada and the US are down by over 70%.
(c) 2025, The Guardian