Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a record 483,200 people in fiscal year 2026, according to new Department of Homeland Security figures obtained by CBS News, marking a historic escalation in President Trump’s signature move. immigration crackdowneven if voters are struggling with increasing internal control.
The total number of individuals deported represents the highest annual figure in ICE history, surpassing the previous record of 442,640 set by law enforcement in fiscal year 2025. ICE also reported more than 491,000 immigration-related arrests in the fiscal year ending September 30, including nearly 475,000 administrative arrests – another record, according to DHS. Administrative arrests are those in which suspected undocumented immigrants are arrested for civil violations rather than criminal charges.
The documents underscore a defining feature of Mr. Trump’s second presidency: a sweeping law enforcement campaign reshaped by dramatic immigration policy and the operational expansion of federal law enforcement’s footprint in communities far from the border. But they also come at a politically complicated time for Mr. Trump.
Following considerable republican losses During the midterm elections, the president publicly acknowledged that parts of his expulsion campaign maybe I went too far. However, this admission was coupled with a decision to raise Stephen Miller, the architect of many of his most restrictive immigration policies, to White House chief of staff.
These new figures underline a tension which is reflected even more within American public opinion. CBS News polls showed widespread support for border security alongside increasing discomfort with how immigration laws are enforced in communities nationwide.
Behind the record numbers
According to DHS, the total number of new deportations is about 18 percent higher than the 409,849 deportations recorded by ICE in fiscal year 2012, under the Obama administration, a long-standing benchmark for the agency. The new record is also nearly 78% higher than the 271,484 evictions recorded in fiscal year 2024, the last full fiscal year under President Biden.
ICE reported a total of 50,925 arrests in August alone, eclipsing the previous monthly record set in July. As of September, the agency was still making more than 48,000 arrests per month, according to DHS, reflecting a rapid and sustained pace of implementation.
However, a record number of reported evictions does not necessarily mean a record number of formal eviction orders executed. ICE deportation figures do not include governmentwide statistics, which include actions by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and distinguish between formal expulsions, voluntary returns and voluntary departures. Thanks to broader measures, nationwide evictions reached higher thresholds in the early 2000s.
A new analysis released Wednesday by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC, raised additional questions about how DHS counts deportations. Based on case-by-case federal immigration records, researchers found that formal removals accounted for only 63% of deportations in July and August 2026, with the remainder made up of voluntary departures and returns.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the brave men and women of ICE, who just broke historic records,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Thursday in a statement accompanying the new numbers. “Fiscal year 2026 saw the highest number of ICE removals and arrests for any year in ICE history. September 2026 was the best September in ICE history in terms of arrests. The total number of ICE arrests in FY 2026 was more than the three full fiscal years under Biden combined, as the Patriots of ICE are working tirelessly to make America safe again. Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, ICE has been unleashed to target and deport illegal aliens so we can save American lives.
The “worst of the worst” – and a broader reality
The Trump administration has consistently defended its campaign as a public safety mission, boasting of arrests and deportations of people accused of or convicted of serious crimes, which DHS has repeatedly described as “the worst of the worst.” It’s also something Mr. Trump focused on his campaign in his successful 2024 presidential campaign.
In its fiscal year 2026 deportation review, DHS highlighted several such cases: Raul Genesis Ortiz Moran, a Mexican national charged with second-degree murder and aggravated sexual assault in connection with the death of a 2-year-old girl in Virginia. The Louisa County Sheriff’s Office independently confirmed the charges.
The department also cited Soili Xiomara Aparicio-Santos, a Honduran national deported in April who DHS said was convicted of attempting to murder her newborn son in New York.
These cases illustrate the serious threats to public safety that immigration officials can face, but are not representative of the hundreds of thousands of arrests.
DHS has repeatedly argued that immigrants without criminal records in the United States may still have criminal histories abroad or pose risks to public safety. The department also often notes that immigration law alone justifies civil arrest and deportation. Yet federal authorities have not publicly provided comprehensive evidence showing how many immigrants arrested without criminal records in the United States have committed crimes abroad.
A CBS News Analysis in August found that in July 2026, for the first time during Mr. Trump’s second term, more than half of ICE arrests involved immigrants who had no criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. That analysis also found that about 6% of people taken into custody by ICE during Mr. Trump’s second administration had been convicted of violent crimes.
Separately, the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute found that only about 20% of the 980,000 deportations carried out collectively by ICE and CBP between January 2025 and July 2026 involved someone with a criminal conviction. Among deported immigrants who had lived in the United States for at least two years, 71% had no criminal convictions.
Many Americans think immigration measures have gone too far
According to in the CBS News National Exit Poll In the 2026 midterm elections, 58% of voters said the Trump administration’s immigration measures went too far. 22% said it was about right, while 20% felt it didn’t go far enough.
While support for border security remains high, it does not necessarily translate into support for the tactics and operations used to enforce immigration law in America’s cities and towns nationwide.
In a “60 Minutes Interview”, the president acknowledged that his crackdown on immigration had political consequences.
“I think it was too harsh,” Mr. Trump told “60 Minutes” correspondent Ross Douthat.
Trump added that his administration received high marks for securing the border and expelling dangerous criminals, but was criticized for expelling longtime immigrants who held jobs, worked in industries such as landscaping and hospitality and, in some cases, paid taxes.
Mr. Trump has also expressed interest in working with Democrats in the new Congress to create and pass immigration legislation, a shocking acknowledgment from a president who has built much of his political identity around the promise of mass deportations.
A new chief of staff at the White House
Like Stephen Miller – a longtime aide to President Trump who historically pushed for higher arrest targets – takes the helm as chief of staffSeveral administration officials told CBS News they do not expect the crackdown to slow down after the election.
In recent weeks, ICE officials have been instructed to aim for about 19,000 arrests per week, according to sources familiar with the agency’s schedule — a goal set before the midterms and significantly higher than its historical pace.
The goals come as Democrats prepare to take control of both houses of Congress in January, with some expressing support for greater oversight of the administration’s immigration operations, spending and enforcement tactics. But their ability to impose changes could be limited by the billions already allocated to ICE, in addition to the presidential veto.
A a sweeping tax and spending law signed by Mr. Trump in July 2025, allocated approximately $170 billion for immigration control and border security, including $75 billion in additional funding for ICE. Of that amount, $45 billion was earmarked to increase immigration detention capacity, while nearly $30 billion was allocated for apprehensions, transportation, deportation operations and additional staffing.
For years, Mr. Trump’s message on immigration was based on a premise that resonated with millions of voters: that the United States must regain control of its borders and enforce its immigration laws.
But the sharp decline in illegal border crossings and the rise in ICE enforcement also come as the political landscape has changed.
The question facing Mr. Trump in the final two years of his presidency is whether a crackdown that has reached unprecedented scale by ICE’s own accounts can mobilize the confidence of an increasingly divided American public over how the president’s mandate to crack down on immigration is carried out.
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