DHS touts highest ICE deportations in history, as Mullin says agency has been ‘unleashed’

Immigration officials on Thursday announced a historic milestone, saying arrests and deportations this year reached the highest levels in the agency’s history, with arrests surpassing the combined totals of the Biden administration’s final three years and deportations nearly matching them.

“Fiscal Year 2026 saw the highest number of ICE deportations and arrests for any year in ICE’s history,” Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said.

“The total number of ICE arrests in Fiscal Year 2026 was more than all three full fiscal years under Biden combined, as the patriots of ICE work around the clock to make America safe again. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, ICE has been unleashed to target and remove illegal aliens so that we can save American lives.”

Officials made more than 491,000 arrests, including nearly 475,000 administrative arrests, the highest administrative total in agency history.

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ICE also carried out 483,200 deportations this fiscal year, surpassing the previous agency record of 442,640 set the year before.

Total arrests exceeded the combined figures for fiscal years 2022, 2023 and 2024 under the Biden administration by nearly 65,000, DHS said.

Meanwhile, deportations this fiscal year nearly matched the combined total for all three full fiscal years under Biden, falling short by fewer than 3,000, according to the department.

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Specifically, this year’s arrests were more than six times higher than those recorded during former President Joe Biden’s first fiscal year in office.

Deportations were also more than eight times higher for the same time period.

August 2026 also set a new record for arrests, with 50,925, marking the highest number for any single month in ICE history, Mullin said.

That pace continued into September, which logged over 48,000 arrests, representing a more than 300% increase over the average September under the previous administration.

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Under Trump’s leadership, more than 3 million migrants have left the U.S., DHS said.

As of October, the administration had deported nearly 1.2 million illegal aliens 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.