ICE Sets an All-Time Record With 483,200 Deportations in a Single Year

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 483,200 people in the 2026 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, the most in the agency's history, according to Department of Homeland Security figures reported Thursday by CBS News and the Associated Press ^[1][2]. The total is 9% above the previous high of 442,640 set a year earlier and 78% above the roughly 271,480 deportations recorded in 2024, the last full year of the Biden administration, the AP reported ^[2].

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin credited the president's leadership and the officers who carried out the work ^[1][3]. "ICE has been unleashed to target and remove illegal aliens," Mullin said in a statement carried by the AP ^[2]. He told CBS News that the year brought the highest deportation and arrest numbers in ICE's 23-year history and that September was the agency's best September ever for arrests ^[1][2].

For the millions of Americans who voted in 2024 to restore order at the border and in the interior, this number is a promise kept. It also arrives at a delicate moment. Bloomberg noted that the crackdown has become a political liability after Republicans' heavy losses in the midterm elections ^[4], and Democrats take control of both chambers of Congress in January ^[1].

The Numbers Behind the Record

Arrests climbed just as sharply as removals. DHS reported more than 491,000 immigration arrests for the year, including nearly 475,000 administrative arrests, CBS News reported ^[1]. The AP put ICE's arrests at 474,850 for the most recent 12-month period, compared with 239,890 a year earlier and 113,430 in 2024 ^[2]. That means the agency roughly quadrupled its arrest pace in two years. On removals, the gap is just as striking: ICE sent home about 212,000 more people this year than in the Biden administration's final full year ^[2].

The busiest stretch came late in the summer. ICE made 50,925 arrests in August, a monthly record, and more than 48,000 in September, ending a two-month run of record highs ^[1][2]. Officials told CBS News that ICE has been directed to aim for about 19,000 arrests a week ^[1].

The new total also tops the longtime benchmark from the Obama years. CBS News reported that the 483,200 figure is about 18% higher than the 409,849 removals DHS counted in fiscal 2012, a number long cited as the high-water mark ^[1]. Counting methods matter, though. Reason, citing records obtained by Syracuse University's TRAC research group, reported that ICE deported 489,251 people in fiscal 2009 under a broader measure ^[3]. Whatever yardstick is used, fiscal 2026 ranks at or near the top of the modern era.

The release itself is news. The AP reported that ICE had not published counts this precise since President Trump returned to the White House, including for 2025 ^[2]. Americans paying for this effort have a right to see the results, and regular, detailed reports should become standard practice rather than an occasional event.

The agency has the resources to keep going. A law signed in July 2025 set aside about $170 billion for immigration enforcement and border security, including $75 billion for ICE, according to CBS News ^[1]. ICE has set a goal of hiring 10,000 new officers within a year and has lowered some hiring standards to get there, Reason reported ^[3].

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What the Critics Say the Totals Leave Out

Not everyone accepts the numbers at face value, and our readers deserve to hear the objections plainly. CBS News pointed out that ICE's deportation figures are not governmentwide totals ^[1]. It also cited an analysis by TRAC finding that formal removals made up 63% of deportations in July and August ^[1].

Reason argued that many of the people counted were leaving on their own. By its reading of the data, voluntary departures and returns accounted for 37% of deportations in July and August, compared with less than 5% in the first three months of President Trump's second term ^[3]. Immigration judges issued 11 times as many voluntary-departure orders in fiscal 2026 as in fiscal 2024, the magazine reported ^[3].

From where I sit, a departure ordered by an immigration judge still means the law is being enforced. A system that persuades people without legal status to leave is doing what Congress has long asked it to do.

Critics have also focused on who is being arrested. The AP noted that the new release does not break down arrests by criminal history, as earlier administrations did ^[2]. A CBS News analysis found that in July, more than half of ICE arrests involved people with no criminal convictions or pending charges ^[1]. The Migration Policy Institute found that about 20% of roughly 980,000 deportations carried out by ICE and Customs and Border Protection from January 2025 through July 2026 involved someone with a criminal conviction, CBS reported ^[1].

The hiring surge has drawn its own scrutiny. Reason, citing a Washington Post review, reported that at least 19 of about 12,000 recent ICE hires had past misconduct or other red flags in their records ^[3]. That is a small share, but every officer carries the badge of the United States, and the standard has to be high.

The Politics After the Midterms

The record lands as the White House recalibrates. In an interview with "60 Minutes," President Trump said his deportation policy had been too tough and that some longtime immigrants with jobs had been deported, CBS News reported ^[1]. He has also told reporters there will be no amnesty ^[3]. After the midterms, Stephen Miller became White House chief of staff, according to CBS ^[1].

Public opinion has moved. Reason noted that exit polls conducted for NBC and CNN showed the enforcement push was unpopular with many midterm voters ^[3]. A CBS News poll found that 58% of voters said immigration enforcement had gone too far, 22% said it was about right and 20% said it had not gone far enough ^[1].

Those are sobering numbers for anyone who believes in secure borders, and they deserve a serious answer, not denial. In my view the answer is not to abandon enforcement but to keep it focused, lawful and humane: put the most dangerous offenders at the front of the line, publish honest numbers that include criminal histories, and let Congress decide in the open whether the law itself should change. That is how a self-governing people settles a hard question.

What Comes Next

The fight now moves to Capitol Hill. Democrats will hold majorities in both chambers starting in January, giving them new leverage over budgets and new tools for oversight ^[1]. Reason reported that ICE and Customs and Border Protection still hold more than $152 billion in unspent funds ^[3], so the agency's work will not stall for lack of money in the near term. And because any change to the underlying law would still need the president's signature, the basic framework of enforcement is likely to hold even as the political ground shifts.

Inside the department, there is no talk of slowing down. Mullin's statements Thursday celebrated the officers behind the record ^[1][2], and the weekly arrest target reported by CBS points to a similar pace in the months ahead ^[1].

For the families of Americans harmed by crimes committed by people who should never have been here, and for the many legal immigrants who waited their turn and played by the rules, the record is a sign that the law means something again. For the next Congress, it is the starting point of the immigration debate that will define 2027. The task for both parties is to keep the border secure while treating every person, even those who must leave, with the dignity owed to someone made in the image of God.