What we know about ICE official comparing mass deportation to Amazon Prime for humans
According to posts on social media, Lyons said, "We need to get better at treating this like a business … like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings." Amazon is known for its speedy delivery of products, albeit with no shortage of controversy regarding the treatment of its employees.
Users posted the alleged quote to platforms such as X (archived), TikTok (archived) and Instagram (archived), with some outraged and others supportive.
According to news reports, the quote "We need to get better at treating this like a business … like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings," is correctly attributed to Lyons. The claims originated from Lyons' appearance at the 2025 Border Security Expo in Phoenix, which took place April 8 and 9, 2025.
The expo is self-described as "where the most influential government leaders, law enforcement officials, and industry innovators gather to tackle the most pressing challenges in border security." Lyons was listed as a guest speaker on the event's official website, though we found no photos or video from his address on any of its social media pages.
The original reporting of the quote came from the Arizona Mirror, an "independent, nonprofit news organization" that is part of States Newsroom, self-described as "the nation's largest state-focused nonprofit news organization."
Snopes contacted the reporter of the piece, Jerod MacDonald-Evoy, to ask for an audio recording of the event. Until we can verify the audio matches the reported quote, we've opted not to put a rating on this claim. However, the Arizona Mirror story was cited by large media outlets such as The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The Independent and Bloomberg.
The expo took place as the Trump administration was making headlines for its mass deportation efforts. In early April 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a 1798 law cited by the White House was grounds for deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members. The previous month, the U.S. deported a Maryland man to a prison in El Salvador in what ICE called an "administrative error."
Further, the administration sought to justify its attempted deportation of legal U.S. resident and Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil by citing "past, current, or expected beliefs, statements or associations or associations that are otherwise lawful."
Snopes contacted ICE and the White House for comment on Lyons' statement and will update this article if we receive a response.
- YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOpaIhk2Rik. Accessed 11 Apr. 2025.
DHS Documents Submitted in Immigration Court Case of Mahmoud Khalil. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25894225-dhs-documents-mahmoud-khalil/. Accessed 11 Apr. 2025.
Dunbar, Marina. "Ice Director Wants to Run Deportations like 'Amazon Prime for Human Beings.'" The Guardian, 9 Apr. 2025. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/09/ice-todd-lyons-deporation-amazon.
"'Extremely Troubling' That US Can't Provide Details on Mistakenly Deported Man, Judge Says." AP News, 11 Apr. 2025, https://apnews.com/article/deportation-trump-salvador-maryland-abrego-garcia-3dc3f81c866fb7decb1e65123fa51aa7.
Jerod MacDonald-Evoy. "ICE Director Envisions Amazon-like Mass Deportation System: 'Prime, but with Human Beings.'" Arizona Mirror, 8 Apr. 2025, https://azmirror.com/2025/04/08/ice-director-envisions-amazon-like-mass-deportation-system-prime-but-with-human-beings/.
"Outrage Grows over Maryland Man's Mistaken Deportation to El Salvador Prison." AP News, 2 Apr. 2025, https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-deportation-maryland-man-trump-c21e54f77c1e6716e2998c2463f6650b.
"Pressed for Evidence against Mahmoud Khalil, Government Cites Its Power to Deport People for Beliefs." AP News, 10 Apr. 2025, https://apnews.com/article/mahmoud-khalil-columbia-university-trump-c60738368171289ae43177660def8d34.
Ramirez, Nikki McCann. "ICE Director: Deportation Should Operate Like Amazon 'But With Human Beings.'" Rolling Stone, 9 Apr. 2025, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/ice-director-todd-lyons-deportation-operate-amazon-1235314047/.
"Speakers | Border Security Expo 2024." Border Security Expo, https://www.bordersecurityexpo.com/speakers. Accessed 11 Apr. 2025.
"The Alien Enemies Act: What to Know about a 1798 Law That Trump Has Invoked for Deportations." AP News, 16 Mar. 2025, https://apnews.com/article/alien-enemies-trump-immigration-deportations-21a62ede23b8c493b60d00a9c125722f.
"Tigers, Swimming Pools, a Nightclub: The Gang Drawing Trump's Ire Started in a Venezuelan Prison." AP News, 31 Mar. 2025, https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-tren-aragua-trump-deportations-guantanamo-el-salvador-0e283ba28a6566426da45b21e4fdf9ee.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
36 minutes ago
- New York Post
NY Dems aim to de-mask ICE agents to scare them off their raids — NOT to protect the public
Supporters claim a bill introduced by Democratic state lawmakers last month banning ICE agents and police from wearing masks during raids will ensure safety and prevent authoritarianism. One backer, Sen. Patricia Fahy, fumes that ICE is 'operating like masked militias' and 'paramilitary secret police' and so must be reined in. Nonsense: The awkwardly and misleadingly named Mandating End to Lawless Tactics Act is actually little more than an attempt to thwart immigration enforcement by making ICE agents fear for their personal safety. It joins similar efforts in other states and in Congress to 'unmask ICE.' In the words of GOP Sen. George Borrello, 'This bill is driven by ideology, not a genuine concern for public safety.' The Left's hypocrisy on this issue is staggering. Progressives — including many of the MELT Act's supporters in the Legislature — have opposed mask bans for criminal suspects and rioters, such as Nassau County's common-sense ban, which has exceptions for law enforcement. Yet for all their sympathy for those involved with the criminal-justice system, they have no qualms about painting cops as criminals and subjecting them to mask bans. If these lawmakers truly cared about public safety, they'd go after the rioters and real criminals who've routinely hidden their identities to evade accountability following the 2020 George Floyd unrest and Oct. 7 demonstrations. ICE and other law enforcement don't mask up because they have machinations of becoming a 'paramilitary secret police.' They do so to keep themselves and their families safe from multinational gangs such as Tren de Aragua. Facial-recognition technology, now rapidly improving due to AI, gives anyone — including nefarious actors like Antifa or cartel members — the ability to reverse image search the unmasked face of an ICE agent. They can then obtain and post their names, addresses and information about their relatives to social media. While the Justice Department can prosecute those responsible for such doxxing, it is nonetheless a frequent threat to agents and loved ones. Addresses of hotels where agents stay during operations are routinely spread on social media so that protesters can harass them. Agitators are so well-organized that an app was created to report and rush to ICE raid locations, as seen in Los Angeles riots this year. The Department of Homeland Security has reported an 830% increase in assaults on ICE personnel this year, attributed to an increase in doxxing and rhetoric against agents. Worse still, even if the MELT Act passes, its effects would be largely symbolic. Lawmakers like Fahy clearly don't understand federalism. Because the Constitution gives federal law precedence, any federal regulation would immediately supersede the MELT Act if passed, rendering it largely symbolic. Additionally, federal agents are immune from state criminal prosecution when acting within the scope of their authority. The MELT Act would also require that all law enforcement agents display their names or badge numbers on their uniforms, hamstringing the plainclothes units of local New York police departments, which now must only provide this information verbally. Some of the bill's supporters mention a more realistic point that masking without wearing identification might allow for easier impersonation of ICE officers. They might also argue that a lack of masking deters possible police misconduct, despite the widespread use of body cameras. Those are valid concerns. But there are ways to protect the public even with masked law enforcement. Public-education campaigns should remind residents that ICE agents and other law enforcement are legally required to identify themselves as police as soon as it is practicable and safe to do so. New Yorkers under arrest should keep in mind their constitutional protections, such as the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney. Masked or not, imposters can still pose as ICE or any other law-enforcement officers. Requiring names or badge numbers does nothing if there's no reliable way to immediately verify the person's legitimacy. The answer isn't a largely symbolic law to neuter real agents; it's to strengthen identification through local cooperation. The only way to fully reassure New Yorkers is cooperation between local police and ICE, whether via collaborative task forces, such as through the federal 287(g) program already adopted by several counties, or by having nearby officers accompany raids to keep public order, which would help quickly debunk any imposters. This type of public partnership would not be a political statement about immigration, rather a commonsense way to put the public at ease and ensure all involved in raids are safe. The MELT Act is symbolic theater that punishes law enforcement while doing nothing to realistically stop imposters. New Yorkers would be safer if lawmakers scrapped this bill and instead fostered real cooperation between local police and ICE to deter fraud and protect both the public and the agents doing dangerous work. Paul Dreyer is a cities policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute.
CBS News
3 hours ago
- CBS News
Federal immigration agents shoot San Bernardino man's car, authorities say
A San Bernardino family says that federal immigration agents fired multiple shots at their car on Saturday morning before waiting outside of their home for hours. A spokesperson for the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice says that the incident happened at around 8:40 a.m., when one of the family members was stopped by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Sometime during their interaction, the civilian's car was struck by gunfire three times, they said. "The individual proceeded to return home, as it was clear the agents did not have a warrant," said a statement from IC4IJ. At the same time, San Bernardino Police Department officers were dispatched to the intersection of Acacia Avenue and Baseline Street after learning of shots fired in the area. "Upon arrival, officers encountered federal agents who advised they were involved in an officer-involved shooting and that the involved suspect had fled the scene in a vehicle," SBPD officers said in a news release. A short time later, police said the suspect called 911 to report that masked men tried to pull him over, broke his car window and shot at him. He told them that he did not know who they were and asked for assistance. Police went to the man's home and found the damaged car. "At that time, it was unclear what the suspect was wanted for. Under the California Values Act, California law enforcement agencies are prohibited from assisting federal officials with immigration enforcement, so our officers left the scene as the investigation was being conducted by federal authorities," police said. Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice says that the federal agents arrived at the home at around 11 a.m., where they remained outside for several hours to "pressure the individual to open the door and come outside." They allegedly did not provide a warrant and did not make attempts to communicate with the suspect or his family. At around 1:15 p.m., SBPD officers were called back to the home upon receiving a request for assistance from agents who said a large crowd had formed outside of the home as they "attempted to arrest the subject for assaulting a federal officer." Police provided crowd control at the home, stating that local law enforcement can help federal officials if officer or public safety is at risk. "In this case, federal agents requested assistance during a lawful arrest for assaulting a federal officer when a crowd created a potential officer safety concern," police said. "This was not an immigration-related arrest, which would be prohibited under California law." Agents left the home a little before 4 p.m., said IC4IJ's statement. They also say that the person who was first stopped by ICE agents has no criminal record. No further information was provided. CBS News Los Angeles has reached out to ICE for further information on the incident but has not yet heard back.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
House Democrat: ‘Pretty clear' Trump ‘wants his own domestic police force'
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said Tuesday it is 'pretty clear' President Trump 'wants his own domestic police force' after the president took control of the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). 'Look, this president is trampling on basic freedoms of the American people to a degree we — I don't think we've ever seen,' Smith said on CNN. 'You see that with what the ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents are doing, in terms of picking people up off the streets with no evidence, no due process, locking people up.' 'This is happening all across the country,' the Evergreen State Democrat added. 'Look, it's pretty clear the president wants his own domestic police force, and step by step, he's trying to create it, and we should be deeply alarmed by that, regardless of how you feel about crime in Washington, D.C., or any other city.' Trump announced Monday he was taking federal control of D.C.'s police department and deploying the National Guard in the city in an attempt to fight crime. 'Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people, and we're not going to let it happen anymore. We're not going to take it,' the president said. Trump took over the MPD via the District of Columbia's Home Rule Act's Section 740. Congress passed the act in the 1970s to give D.C. control over its local affairs. The president's recent moves in the District have drawn harsh blowback from Democrats, with Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), whose state borders the nation's capital, saying Monday in a thread on the social platform X that 'Trump's raw authoritarian power grab in DC is part of a growing national crisis.' 'He's playing dictator in our nation's capital as a dress rehearsal as he pushes democracy to the brink. This assault on freedom is exactly why we've fought for DC statehood & to give DC control of its National Guard,' Van Hollen added. 'And by the way, Trump couldn't care less about safety in DC or the people of DC. If he did, he wouldn't have blocked DC from spending $1 billion of its OWN money to fund its OWN police department, schools and more,' he continued. When reached for comment, the White House pushed back against Van Hollen's comments by saying, 'When Chris Van Hollen isn't traveling abroad to sip margaritas with criminal illegal aliens, he's complaining about the President's bold efforts to stop violent crime in our nation's capital.' 'How many different ways can this guy say it? He will always side with criminals over law abiding Americans,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson added. Updated at 7:45 p.m. EDT. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
