The U.S. government has reported that deportations and arrests this year are at a record high, exceeding previous records.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted 483,200 deportations and more than 491,000 immigration arrests in 2026.
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The total number of deportations broke all records in ICE’s 23-year history, including the previous record of 442,640 deportations in 2025.
The report was released days after US President Donald Trump acknowledged that his administration’s immigration crackdown may be “too harsh.”
“FY2026 had the highest number of deportations and arrests in ICE history. September 2026 was the best September in ICE history in terms of arrests,” Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin said in a statement.
According to ICE, more than 48,000 people were arrested in September, ending a record high of 50,925 in August.
Ambiguous numbers?
“There is no question that the administration has cracked down more than any previous president, and there is also evidence that the illegal immigrant population has declined significantly due to increased emigration due to fear of crackdown,” Stephen Camarota, research director at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), told Al Jazeera.
However, he highlighted the ambiguity of the numbers released by DHS.
“Of course, data is always incomplete and difficult to measure. Regarding the specific numbers released today, the big question that I couldn’t determine is what percentage of these individuals are being policed within the United States, what percentage are being forcibly removed from the interior of the United States, and what percentage are being turned back at borders or airports.”
“Increasing forced removals, sometimes called deportations, can certainly encourage more people to return, and that is clearly a central goal of this administration,” Camarota concluded.
“Too strict”
President Trump acknowledged that his administration’s immigration policies “may be too strict.”
“A lot of people will say it’s great, but a lot of people will think it’s too harsh,” President Trump said in a recent interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes.
But Trump defended his performance. “By getting people out of the country, I have a very good reputation for getting bad people out of the country. I also got people out who had good jobs, so I was hurt because there was one violation of the law for illegal entry.”
Trump’s crackdown on immigration has become a political vulnerability, with his approval rating on the issue dropping to 38% from 50% at the beginning of his term, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
“I’m going to tear ICE apart.”
Democrats appear to be preparing to block President Trump’s immigration crackdown when they take control of Congress next year. They plan to target ICE tactics and expand their path to legal status, despite the limitations of what they can accomplish.
“We will investigate an administration that uses DHS as a weapon against Americans (and) out-of-control immigration policies,” Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and soon-to-be chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Reuters in a statement.
Henry Cuellar, a centrist Texas Democrat, said at a Capitol news conference with members of Congress and newly elected representatives from southwestern border states that he had already spoken with Trump officials about focusing deportations on criminals.
“We’re not going to do anything extreme,” Cuellar said, nodding to conservative voters across the country who voted Democratic.
But many Democratic voices sounded more resolute.
“We are tearing ICE apart,” Sen.-elect Peggy Flanagan said while celebrating her victory in Minnesota. In January, federal immigration agents shot and killed two people in Minnesota in a crackdown.
Two Americans, Alex Preti and Renee Nicole Goode, were murdered in Minneapolis in an incident that was captured on bystander video.
Their shootings have gone viral and sparked international outrage. Other footage shows masked agents spraying chemical agents and beating civilians who were documenting or protesting, activities protected by the U.S. Constitution.
