US immigration agency carries out 483,200 deportations, department says

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out 483,200 deportations in fiscal 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Wednesday. The total exceeded ICE’s previous annual record of 442,640 in fiscal 2025.

DHS also counted more than 491,000 immigration arrests in the fiscal year, which ended on 30 September 2026. Nearly 475,000 were administrative arrests for alleged civil immigration violations rather than criminal charges.

What the figures show

DHS says the totals are records in ICE’s 23-year history. The agency’s count is not a governmentwide total: CBS News said broader national measures include US Customs and Border Protection actions, reached higher levels during parts of the early 2000s and distinguish formal removals from voluntary returns and departures.

An analysis of federal immigration records by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse found that formal removals accounted for 63% of deportations in July and August 2026; the rest were voluntary departures and returns.

Steven Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, told Al Jazeera that the announced figures did not make clear to him what share involved removals from inside the US and what share involved people turned around at borders or airports. He said there was evidence that fear of enforcement had encouraged people living in the country illegally to leave and significantly reduced that population, while cautioning that the data were incomplete and difficult to measure.

Enforcement and oversight

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin credited President Donald Trump’s leadership and said the campaign aimed to save American lives. Trump has acknowledged that the crackdown might be too tough and said it had also removed people with good jobs whose only violation, in his account, was entering the country illegally.

Democrats are preparing to take control of both chambers of Congress in January. Bennie Thompson, the incoming chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he would investigate what he characterized as the administration’s weaponization of DHS and its immigration policies.

CBS News reports that a tax and spending law Trump signed in July 2025 allocated roughly $170 billion for immigration enforcement and border security, including $75 billion in additional ICE funding. Multiple administration officials told CBS they did not expect enforcement to slow after the election as Stephen Miller became White House chief of staff.

Texas Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar said he had discussed focusing deportations on criminals with Trump officials, while Minnesota Senator-elect Peggy Flanagan said, “We will rip ICE apart.” Money already allocated to ICE and the president’s veto power could limit Democrats' ability to force changes.