ICE Reports Record 483,200 Deportations in Fiscal 2026, Topping Prior Record of 442,640

ICE has pushed its annual deportation total past its own previous record of 442,640, set in fiscal year 2025. Department of Homeland Security figures show ICE deported 483,200 people in fiscal year 2026, which ended Sept. 30. That is the highest annual figure in ICE's reported history.

The numbers

ICE also reported more than 491,000 immigration arrests for the year. Nearly 475,000 of those were administrative arrests, another record, according to DHS. Administrative arrests are civil immigration cases, not criminal charges.

The pace picked up late in the year. ICE logged 50,925 arrests in August alone, beating the monthly high set in July. In September it was still making more than 48,000 arrests a month.

DHS puts the new total approximately 18% above the 409,849 removals ICE recorded in fiscal 2012, during the Obama administration, the agency's longstanding benchmark. It is nearly 78% above the 271,484 deportations recorded in fiscal 2024, the last full fiscal year under President Biden.

What the record does and does not measure

The figure covers ICE only. It leaves out governmentwide statistics, which include Customs and Border Protection actions and separate formal removals from voluntary returns and voluntary departures. On those broader measures, nationwide deportations reached higher thresholds during portions of the early 2000s.

So "record" depends on what is being counted. A record for ICE is not necessarily a record for the federal government as a whole, and a record number of reported deportations does not necessarily mean a record number of formal removal orders carried out.

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University published an analysis Wednesday that raises further questions about how DHS counts deportations. Based on case-by-case federal immigration records, TRAC researchers found that formal removals accounted for just 63% of deportations in July and August 2026, with the remainder consisting of voluntary departures and returns.

Politics after the midterms

The numbers land after sweeping Republican losses in the midterm elections. Trump has publicly acknowledged that parts of his deportation campaign may have gone too far.

He has also elevated Stephen Miller, the architect of many of his most restrictive immigration policies, to White House chief of staff.

Public opinion is split along that same line. CBS News polling shows widespread support for border security alongside increasing discomfort with how immigration laws are enforced in communities nationwide. Interior enforcement far from the border is the part voters are weighing most heavily.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement accompanying the figures that he couldn't be prouder of ICE's "brave men and women," and that the total number of ICE arrests in fiscal 2026 was more than all three full fiscal years under Biden combined. The administration has defended the campaign as a public safety mission aimed at what DHS calls the "worst of the worst."

The record is harder to square with the arrest data. A 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 with neither criminal convictions nor pending criminal charges. The same analysis found that approximately 6% 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% of approximately 980,000 deportations carried out collectively by ICE and CBP between January 2025 and July 2026 involved someone with a criminal conviction.

DHS argues that immigration law alone justifies civil arrest and deportation, and that immigrants without U.S. criminal records can still have criminal histories overseas or pose security risks. Federal authorities have not publicly provided comprehensive evidence showing how many arrested immigrants without U.S. criminal records have committed crimes abroad.

The unresolved question is whether the voters who backed border security will accept the methods behind a count this high. TRAC's challenge to the deportation count also remains open, and the accuracy of the record depends on how it is answered.