ICE deportations and arrests reach record levels amid Trump immigration policy shifts

Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a record 483,200 people in fiscal year 2026, according to new Department of Homeland Security figures obtained by WTX US News, marking a historic escalation in President Trump’s signature immigration crackdown, even as voters grapple with the increase in interior enforcement. 

The total number of individuals deported represents the highest annual figure in ICE’s reported history, surpassing the law enforcement agency’s previous record of 442,640 in fiscal year 2025. ICE also reported more than 491,000 immigration arrests during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, including nearly 475,000 administrative arrests — another record, according to DHS. Administrative arrests are those in which alleged undocumented immigrants are arrested for civil violations rather than criminal charges. 

The records underscore a defining feature of Mr. Trump’s second presidency — a sweeping enforcement campaign reshaped by dramatic immigration policy and the operational expansion of the federal law enforcement footprint in communities far from the border. But they also arrive at a politically complicated moment for Mr. Trump. 

Following sweeping Republican losses in the midterm elections, the president has publicly acknowledged that parts of his deportation campaign may have gone too far. Yet that admission was coupled with a decision to elevate Stephen Miller, the architect of many of his most restrictive immigration policies, to White House chief of staff. 

These new figures underscore a tension further reflected within American public opinion. WTX US News polls have shown widespread support for border security alongside increasing discomfort with how immigration laws are enforced in communities nationwide. 

Behind the record-breaking numbers 

According to DHS, the new deportation total is approximately 18% higher than the 409,849 removals ICE recorded in fiscal year 2012, during the Obama administration, a longstanding agency benchmark. The new record is also nearly 78% higher than the 271,484 deportations recorded in fiscal year 2024, the last full fiscal year under President Biden.

Still, a record number of reported deportations does not necessarily mean a record number of formal removal orders carried out. ICE’s deportation figures do not include governmentwide statistics, which include actions by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and distinguish between formal removals, voluntary returns and voluntary departures. Using broader measures, nationwide deportations reached higher thresholds during portions of the early 2000s.

A new analysis published Wednesday by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC, raised additional questions about how DHS counts deportations. Based on case-by-case federal immigration records, researchers found that formal removals accounted for just 63% of deportations in July and August 2026, with the remainder consisting of voluntary departures and returns. 

“I couldn’t be prouder of the brave men and women of ICE, who just broke more historic records,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement Thursday that accompanied the new numbers. “Fiscal Year 2026 saw the highest number of ICE deportations and arrests for any year in ICE’s history. September 2026 was the best September in ICE’s history in terms of arrests. The total number of ICE arrests in Fiscal Year 2026 was more than all three full fiscal years under Biden combined, as the patriots of ICE work around the clock to make America safe again. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, ICE has been unleashed to target and remove illegal aliens so that we can save American lives.”

The “worst of the worst” — and a broader reality

The Trump administration has consistently defended its campaign as a public safety mission, boasting arrests and deportations of people accused or convicted of serious crimes, those DHS has repeatedly described as the “worst of the worst.” It is also something Mr. Trump made a central focus of his campaign in his successful 2024 presidential run. 

In its accounting of the 2026 fiscal year’s deportations, DHS has highlighted several such cases: Raul Genesis Ortiz Moran, a Mexican national charged with second-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault in connection with the death of a 2-year-old girl in Virginia. The Louisa County Sheriff’s Office independently confirmed the charges. 

The department also cited Soili Xiomara Aparicio-Santos, a Honduran national deported in April who, according to DHS, was convicted of attempting to murder her newborn son in New York. 

The cases illustrate the serious public safety threats immigration officers can encounter, but are not representative of hundreds of thousands in arrests. 

DHS has repeatedly argued that immigrants without U.S. criminal records can still have criminal histories overseas or pose security risks to the public. The department also often notes that immigration law alone justifies civil arrest and deportation. Still, federal authorities have not publicly provided comprehensive evidence showing how many arrested immigrants without U.S. criminal records have committed crimes abroad.

An August WTX US News analysis found that in July 2026, for the first time during Mr. Trump’s second term, more than half of ICE arrests involved immigrants who had neither criminal convictions nor pending criminal charges. That analysis also found that approximately 6% of people booked into ICE detention during Mr. Trump’s second administration had convictions for violent crimes.

Separately, the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute found that only about 20% of approximately 980,000 deportations carried out collectively by ICE and CBP between January 2025 and July 2026 involved someone with a criminal conviction. Among deported immigrants who had lived in the U.S. for at least two years, 71% had no criminal conviction.

Many Americans believe immigration enforcement has gone too far

According to WTX US News national exit polling from the 2026 midterm elections, 58% of voters said the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement had gone too far. Another 22% said it had been about right, while 20% believed it had not gone far enough.

While support for border security remains high, it does not necessarily translate into support for tactics and operations used to enforce immigration law in American cities and towns nationwide. 

In a “60 Minutes interview,” the president acknowledged that his immigration crackdown had taken a political toll.

“I think it was too tough,” Mr. Trump told “60 Minutes” correspondent Ross Douthat.

Trump added that his administration received high marks for securing the border and removing dangerous criminals, but faced criticism for deporting longtime immigrants who held jobs, worked in industries such as landscaping and hospitality, and in some cases paid taxes.

Mr. Trump also expressed interest in working with congressional Democrats in the new Congress to create and pass immigration legislation, a shocking acknowledgment from a president who built much of his political identity around the promise of mass deportations.

A new White House chief of staff 

As Stephen Miller — a longtime aide of President Trump who has historically pushed for higher arrest targets — takes the helm as chief of staff, multiple administration officials tell WTX US News that they do not expect the crackdown to slow down following the election.

In recent weeks, ICE officials have been instructed to aim for approximately 19,000 arrests per week, according to sources familiar with the agency’s planning — a target established before the midterms and substantially above its historical pace.

The targets come as Democrats prepare to take control of both chambers of Congress in January, with some voicing support for more scrutiny of the administration’s immigration operations, spending and enforcement tactics. But their ability to force changes could be constrained by the billions already appropriated to ICE, in addition to presidential veto power.

A sweeping tax and spending law signed by Mr. Trump in July 2025 allocated roughly $170 billion for immigration enforcement and border security, including $75 billion in additional funding for ICE. Of that, $45 billion was designated to expand immigrant detention capacity, while nearly $30 billion was allocated for arrests, transportation, deportation operations and additional personnel.

For years, Mr. Trump’s immigration message rested on a premise that resonated with millions of voters: the U.S. needed to regain control of its border and enforce its immigration laws.

But the sharp decline in illegal border crossings and the surge in ICE enforcement come as the political landscape has shifted, too.

The question facing Mr. Trump in the final two years of his presidency is whether an enforcement campaign that has achieved unprecedented scale by ICE’s own accounting can harness the confidence of an American public increasingly divided over how the presidential mandate to crack down on immigration is being carried out.