ICE Deported a Record 483,200 People in Fiscal 2026 as Arrests Also Hit a New High
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a record 483,200 people in fiscal year 2026 and made more than 491,000 immigration arrests, according to new Department of Homeland Security figures obtained by CBS News — the highest annual totals in the agency’s 23-year history, and a defining measure of President Donald Trump’s second-term immigration crackdown.
The figures, announced by the department on Thursday, November 12, 2026, show a deportation total about 9 percent above the previous ICE record of 442,640 set in fiscal year 2025, and nearly 78 percent above the 271,484 deportations recorded in fiscal year 2024, the last full fiscal year under President Joe Biden. The fiscal year ended on September 30.
The record arrives at a politically complicated moment for the administration. Voters in last week’s midterm elections handed Democrats sweeping victories, and exit polling showed a majority of Americans believe the enforcement campaign has gone too far — even as the White House shows no sign of slowing it down.
The record in numbers
The deportation total is also about 18 percent higher than the 409,849 removals ICE recorded in fiscal year 2012, during the Obama administration, a longstanding agency benchmark. Nearly 475,000 of the fiscal 2026 arrests were administrative arrests — arrests for alleged civil immigration violations rather than criminal charges — another record, according to the department.
The pace of enforcement accelerated through the summer. ICE reported 50,925 arrests in August alone, eclipsing the previous monthly high set in July, and was still carrying out more than 48,000 arrests a month in September, according to DHS figures.
“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.”
Mullin added that the total number of ICE arrests in fiscal 2026 exceeded all three full fiscal years under Biden combined, crediting Trump’s leadership for having “unleashed” the agency “to target and remove illegal aliens so that we can save American lives.”
What the record does — and does not — count
A record number of reported deportations does not necessarily mean a record number of formal removal orders carried out. ICE’s figures do not include governmentwide statistics, which cover actions by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and distinguish between formal removals, voluntary returns, and voluntary departures. Using those 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 obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, researchers found that formal removals accounted for just 63 percent of deportations in July and August 2026, with the remainder consisting of voluntary departures and returns — processes that allow immigrants to leave on their own initiative without a formal removal order and the penalties that come with one.
TRAC’s broader deportation series, which includes ICE and CBP actions, recorded 489,251 deportations in fiscal 2009 and projected about 481,008 for fiscal 2026 from records current through August 24 — close to the DHS figure, suggesting the headline total is not out of line with the underlying case records.
The Associated Press also reported that the 483,200 total fell short of the White House’s stated goal of 1 million deportations a year, and that the DHS release did not include a detailed breakdown of how many of those deported had criminal histories.
Who was arrested — and who was not
The Trump administration has consistently defended its campaign as a public safety mission, highlighting 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 Trump made a central focus of his campaign in his successful 2024 presidential run.
In its accounting of the fiscal year, DHS highlighted several such cases, including 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, charges the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office independently confirmed. 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.
But those cases are not representative of the hundreds of thousands of arrests. An August CBS News analysis found that in July 2026, for the first time during 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 percent of people booked into ICE detention during Trump’s second administration had convictions for violent crimes.
Separately, the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute found that only about 20 percent 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 United States for at least two years, 71 percent had no criminal conviction.
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Why this matters
The new figures underscore a tension at the heart of the administration’s signature policy. CBS News polls have shown widespread support for border security alongside increasing discomfort with how immigration laws are enforced in communities nationwide. According to CBS News national exit polling from the 2026 midterm elections, 58 percent of voters said the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement had gone too far. Another 22 percent said it had been about right, while 20 percent believed it had not gone far enough.
Following the sweeping Republican losses in the midterms, the president has publicly acknowledged that parts of his deportation campaign may have gone too far. In a “60 Minutes” interview, Trump told correspondent Ross Douthat, “I think it was too tough.” He 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.
Trump also expressed interest in working with congressional Democrats in the new Congress to create and pass immigration legislation — a striking acknowledgment from a president who built much of his political identity around the promise of mass deportations.
What happens next
As Stephen Miller — a longtime aide who has historically pushed for higher arrest targets — takes the helm as White House chief of staff, administration officials tell CBS News 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 enforcement campaign is also backed by an enormous funding increase. A sweeping tax and spending law signed by 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.
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.
ICE’s enforcement has also drawn scrutiny in individual cases. Earlier this week, NNews reported on an 8-year-old Haitian boy taken into ICE custody at a scheduled check-in in San Diego, separating him from the uncle who had been caring for him — a case the school district and members of Congress are still pressing the department to explain.
The question facing 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 hold the confidence of an American public increasingly divided over how the mandate to crack down on immigration is being carried out — and whether the midterm rebuke changes anything at all. The funding fight that ended the longest government shutdown in American history showed how divided Congress already is over the administration’s priorities.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people did ICE deport in fiscal year 2026?
ICE deported 483,200 people in fiscal year 2026, which ran from October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026, according to Department of Homeland Security figures obtained by CBS News. It is the highest annual deportation total in ICE’s 23-year history, surpassing the previous record of 442,640 in fiscal year 2025.
How many arrests did ICE make in fiscal year 2026?
ICE recorded more than 491,000 immigration arrests during the fiscal year, including nearly 475,000 administrative arrests for alleged civil immigration violations. August was the busiest month, with 50,925 arrests, a monthly record.
Does the record mean formal removals also hit a record?
Not necessarily. A Syracuse University TRAC analysis of federal case records found that formal removals accounted for only 63 percent of deportations in July and August 2026, with the rest consisting of voluntary departures and returns. Broader governmentwide measures, which include Customs and Border Protection actions, reached higher levels in the early 2000s.
What do voters think of the immigration crackdown?
According to CBS News national exit polling from the 2026 midterm elections, 58 percent of voters said the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement had gone too far, 22 percent said it had been about right, and 20 percent said it had not gone far enough. President Trump himself told “60 Minutes,” “I think it was too tough.”
The record totals are now the benchmark against which the next fiscal year will be measured — and the political debate over them is only beginning, with Democrats set to take control of Congress in January and the White House signaling that the pace of enforcement will not slow.
Sources: CBS News; Associated Press; Reason; Syracuse University Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC); Migration Policy Institute; U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
