Senator Markey Releases New Comprehensive Report “Under the Radar” Documenting Trump’s Second Administration Stealth Attack on U.S. Immigration System

Markey report reveals some of the most expansive and damaging measures have unfolded largely outside of public view

Report Text (PDF)

Washington (August 7, 2026) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) today released a comprehensive new report, titled Under the Radar II: The Second Trump Administration's Stealth Attack on the U.S. Immigration System, examining the second Trump administration's quiet, systematic efforts to dismantle the U.S. immigration system. While many of the Trump administration's immigration actions have made headlines since his inauguration day, some of the most expansive and damaging measures have unfolded largely outside of public view. Senator Markey's report documents how the Administration has made "under-the-radar" policy and procedural changes to destabilize pathways to lawful presence, expand immigration enforcement, and reshape the immigration courts. The report follows Senator Markey's "Under the Radar" report from May 2019, which exposed similar covert efforts by the first Trump administration to reshape the immigration system.

"As our nation commemorates its 250^th anniversary, we should be celebrating our identity as a nation of immigrants. Instead, the Trump administration is quietly gutting critical protections to systematically demonize and target our immigrant communities," said Senator Markey. "This report shines a light on Trump's cruel project to dismantle due process, strip immigrants of their lawful status, and turn our immigration courts into deportation machines. The Trump administration must be held accountable for its attacks on our immigrant neighbors."

Senator Markey's report pulls back the curtain on the second Trump administration's cruel immigration policy reforms. For instance, the Trump administration has moved to expand denaturalization, the process of revoking citizenship. The Administration instructed United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) field offices in 2025 to refer between 100 to 200 denaturalization cases per month for litigation, an unprecedented escalation of a historically rarely used process. Denaturalization carries profound consequences for individuals and their family members, including loss of citizenship, statelessness, potential criminal charges, and exposure to removal. Stripping individuals of citizenship to fill quotas and serve the Administration's mass deportation agenda is draconian and senseless.

Senator Markey's report is organized into three sections: "Destabilizing Lawful Pathways," "Transforming Enforcement," and "Reshaping Immigration Courts." Topics covered in the report include:

• Section One: U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, Humanitarian Parole, Work Authorization, Protections for Workers Reporting Labor Violations, Deferred Action, Public Charge Inadmissibility, Affirmative Asylum System, Adjustment of Status Adjudications, Citizenship, Naturalization Oath Ceremonies, and Denaturalization.
• Section Two: Notice to Appear Issuance, Arrest Authority of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, Alien Registration Requirements, Legal Representation, Expedited Removal, Prosecutorial Discretion and Administrative Closure, Detention, Bond Eligibility, and Agency Information Sharing.
• Section Three: Executive Office for Immigration Review, Politicization and Removal of Immigration Judges, Board of Immigration Appeals, Continuances and Docket Control, and Backlogs.

Senator Markey has worked consistently to hold the Trump administration's immigration enforcement regime accountable, and to demand transparency from ICE and DHS.

• On July 28, Senator Markey led 11 colleagues in writing to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, DHS Secretary Mullin, and Defense Secretary Hegseth demanding to know whether the Trump administration plans to deploy armed federal law enforcement officers at polling sites during the November 2026 elections, an escalation of the Administration's assault on free and fair elections that is clearly meant to intimidate voters.
• On July 17, Senator Markey conducted an official unscheduled oversight visit at the ICE field office in Scarborough, Maine, where he demanded answers about the recent, nearby shooting and killing of 26-year-old Johan Sebastián Guerrero by an ICE officer.
• On July 16, Senator Markey and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to the ICE Boston Field Office in Burlington, Massachusetts, demanding a full, transparent, and independent accounting of this killing, given the office's direct jurisdiction over enforcement operations in Maine and New England.
• In January, Senator Markey wrote to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Boston Acting Field Office Director David Wesling, demanding answers about conditions at the ICE field office in Burlington, Massachusetts, and the conduct of ICE agents in the Commonwealth. This letter followed Senator Markey's previous December letter to Acting Director Wesling, raising concerns about the cruel conditions at the Burlington field office.

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