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Somali immigrant deported after ICE rapid transfers across multiple states

Oct 2025·Location: Portland, ME

Country of origin: Somalia

Somali immigrant deported after ICE rapid transfers across multiple states
Photo via themarshallproject.org

Abdullahi Mohamed, a Somali immigrant with 25+ years in the U.S. and valid work authorization, was detained by ICE near Portland, Maine, and held for more than seven weeks in Massachusetts before being rapidly transferred across multiple states, including Mississippi and Louisiana, in December 2025. His family lost contact with him for about five days during the transfers, piecing together his location through a lawyer's email, a call from another detainee's wife, and a brief two-minute call from Mohamed himself at an undisclosed airport, before he was deported to Somalia. According to a Marshall Project investigation, rapid transfers of detainees have become increasingly common under the Trump administration, with transfers of five or more times more than tripling and out-of-state transfers within 24 hours more than doubling since the Biden administration's final year.

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