The United States government has announced unprecedented levels of deportations and immigration arrests for the 2026 fiscal year, setting new historical milestones.
According to a Wednesday announcement by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed 483,200 deportations and recorded over 491,000 immigration arrests throughout 2026.
This total surpasses all records in ICE’s 23-year history, eclipsing the previous high of 442,640 deportations set in 2025.
The release of these figures comes shortly after President Donald Trump acknowledged that his administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown may have been perceived as “too tough.”
“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,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated.
ICE officials noted that more than 48,000 arrests were made in September, concluding a two-month streak of record peaks that had reached 50,925 in August.
Vague figures?
“There is no question that the current administration has increased immigration enforcement more than any prior president. There is also evidence suggesting that the undocumented immigrant population has declined significantly due to increased out-migration driven by a fear of enforcement,” Steven Camarota, director of research at the Washington, DC-based Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), told Al Jazeera.
However, Camarota pointed out ambiguities in the data released by the DHS.
“Of course, the data is always incomplete and difficult to measure. Regarding the specific numbers released today, the major issue I have been unable to determine is what percentage of these individuals represent interior enforcement actions, what percentage are removals from within the interior of the United States, and what percentage are those turned around at the border or at airports.”
“Increased removals, often referred to as deportations, certainly can encourage more individuals to return home, which is clearly a central objective of this administration,” Camarota concluded.
‘Too tough’
President Trump has acknowledged that his administration’s immigration policies might be perceived as “too tough.”
“Many people would say it is great, but a lot of people would think it is too tough,” Trump remarked in a recent interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes.
Trump, however, defended his record. “For getting people out, I get very high marks for getting the bad ones out; I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation or breaking of the law that was they came into the country illegally.”
Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown has emerged as a political liability, with his approval rating on the issue dropping to 38 percent from 50 percent at the beginning of his presidency, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.
‘We will rip ICE apart’
Democrats appear to be preparing to curb Trump’s immigration crackdown when they assume control of Congress next year. They plan to target ICE tactics and expand pathways to legal status, despite limitations on how much they can realistically achieve.
“We will investigate the administration weaponizing DHS against Americans and its out-of-control immigration policies,” Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and the incoming chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Reuters.
At a news conference at the US Capitol with House members and newly elected representatives from southwestern border states, Henry Cuellar, a centrist Texas Democrat, said he had already discussed focusing deportation efforts on individuals with criminal records with Trump administration officials.
“We’re not going to be extreme,” Cuellar said, appealing to conservative voters across the country who voted for Democrats.
However, several Democratic voices took a firmer stance.
“We will rip ICE apart,” Senator-elect Peggy Flanagan said during her victory celebration in Minnesota, where federal immigration agents shot and killed two individuals during an enforcement surge in January.
The victims, US citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, were killed in Minneapolis in incidents that were captured on bystander videos.
Their shooting deaths have gone viral, sparking international outrage. Additional footage shows masked agents deploying chemical agents and beating civilians who were documenting their activities or protesting—activities protected under the US Constitution.