The United States government has reported a historic high in deportations and arrests for the current fiscal year, surpassing all previous records. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out 483,200 deportations and more than 491,000 immigration arrests in 2026.
The deportation total breaks every record in ICE’s 23-year history, including the previous high of 442,640 deportations made in 2025. The announcement came days after US President Donald Trump acknowledged that his administration’s immigration crackdown may have been “too tough.”
ICE posts record deportation and arrest totals
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement that the year set a new benchmark. “Fiscal Year 2026 saw the highest number of ICE deportations and arrests for any year in ICE’s history,” he said. He added that September 2026 was the best September in the agency’s history for arrests.
Also read: Democrats push to rein in Trump immigration crackdown
ICE said it made more than 48,000 arrests in September. That figure ended a two-month run of record highs, which reached 50,925 in August.
Steven Camarota, director of research at the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), told that the administration had increased enforcement more than any prior president. He also said there was evidence that the illegal immigrant population had declined significantly, which he linked to increased out-migration driven by fear of enforcement.
Camarota also questioned the clarity of the DHS figures. He said he could not determine what share of the cases were interior enforcement, what share were removals from inside the United States, and what share were people turned around at the border or at airports. “Increased removals, sometimes called deportation, certainly can encourage more people to go home, and clearly that is a central goal of this administration,” he said.
Trump defends his approach as criticism grows
Trump has acknowledged that his immigration policies “might be too tough.” In a recent interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, he said that many people would consider the policies great, while many others would think they are too tough.
Trump nonetheless defended his record. He said he received high marks for removing people who committed crimes, but argued he was criticised for also removing people with good jobs whose only violation was entering the country illegally.
The crackdown has also become a political vulnerability. Based on Reuters/Ipsos polling, his approval rating on the issue has fallen to 38 percent from 50 percent at the start of his presidency.
Democrats prepare to challenge ICE tactics in Congress
Democrats appear set to try to halt the crackdown when they take control of Congress next year. Their plans include targeting ICE tactics and expanding paths to legal status, although their ability to achieve these goals is limited.
Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who will chair the House Homeland Security Committee, told Reuters in a statement that the committee would investigate the administration’s use of DHS against Americans and its immigration policies. “We will investigate the administration weaponising DHS against Americans (and) its out of control immigration policies,” he said.
At a news conference at the US Capitol, Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar, a centrist, said he had already held conversations with Trump officials about focusing deportation efforts on criminals. “We’re not going to be extreme,” he said. Other Democrats took a firmer line. Senator-elect Peggy Flanagan, celebrating her victory in Minnesota, said, “We will rip ICE apart.”
Minnesota has been at the centre of the debate. Federal immigration agents shot dead two people during an enforcement surge there in January. Two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, were killed in Minneapolis, in incidents captured on bystander video. Their deaths have gone viral and prompted international outrage, and other footage shows masked agents using chemical agents and beating civilians who were documenting their activities or protesting, activities protected under the US Constitution.
