Immigration officials announced a historic enforcement milestone Thursday, reporting that ICE arrests and deportations reached record levels in fiscal 2026. Arrests exceeded the combined total from the Biden administration’s final three years, while deportations came close to matching that figure.
“Fiscal Year 2026 saw the highest number of ICE deportations and arrests for any year in ICE’s history,” Markwayne Mullin, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said.
Mullin said ICE made more arrests in fiscal 2026 than during all three full fiscal years under President Biden combined. He credited President Trump’s leadership with expanding the agency’s efforts to identify and deport immigrants in the country illegally.
Officials reported more than 491,000 arrests, including nearly 475,000 administrative arrests—a record annual total for the agency.
FILE — DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin attributed record ICE arrests and deportations to Trump’s leadership, saying the agency had been “unleashed.” (Cliff Owen)
ICE deported 483,200 people during the fiscal year, surpassing the agency’s previous record of 442,640 set the year before.
According to DHS, total arrests were nearly 65,000 higher than the combined number recorded in fiscal years 2022, 2023 and 2024 under the Biden administration.
Deportations, meanwhile, fell fewer than 3,000 short of the combined total from Biden’s three full fiscal years, the department said.
FILE — DHS said the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign pushed ICE arrests and deportations to historic levels in fiscal 2026. (Christian Torres/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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Fiscal 2026 arrests were more than six times higher than the number recorded during Biden’s first fiscal year in office.
Deportations were more than eight times higher than they were during that same period.
August 2026 produced another record, with 50,925 arrests—the highest total ICE has reported for a single month, Mullin said.
Enforcement remained elevated in September, when ICE recorded more than 48,000 arrests. That represented an increase of over 300% compared with the previous administration’s average for the month.
FILE — ICE deported 483,200 people in fiscal 2026, nearly equaling the combined total from Biden’s final three full fiscal years, DHS said. (REUTERS/Carielle Doe)
DHS said more than 3 million migrants have left the United States under the Trump administration.
By October, the administration had deported nearly 1.2 million people in the country illegally and arrested more than 1.25 million, according to the department.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the brave men and women of ICE, who just broke more historic records,” Mullin said.
