ICE sets all-time records for deportations and arrests in fiscal 2026

Homeland Security says the agency carried out 483,200 deportations and more than 491,000 arrests, and Secretary Markwayne Mullin credited President Trump’s leadership.

By Alex National Affairs & Economic Correspondent Nov. 12, 2026 · WASHINGTON

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out more deportations and made more arrests in fiscal year 2026 than in any year in the agency’s history, the Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday.

ICE carried out 483,200 deportations in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to the department. That total topped the previous record of 442,640, set in fiscal year 2025. The Associated Press reported that the new figure was up 9 percent from that high.

The agency also made more than 491,000 immigration arrests during the year. The department said that figure included nearly 475,000 administrative arrests, by far the highest total in ICE’s history.

The pace built through the summer. ICE arrested 43,900 people in June, 50,208 in July and 50,925 in August, and each month set a single-month record when it was reported. In September, the agency carried out more than 48,000 arrests and 44,000 removals, and the department called it the best September in ICE’s history for arrests.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the brave men and women of ICE, who just broke more historic records,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement released with the numbers.

Mr. Mullin credited the president for the results. “Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, ICE has been unleashed to target and remove illegal aliens so that we can save American lives,” he said.

The department also said that more than 3 million migrants have left the United States under the president’s leadership, and that as of October, nearly 1.2 million illegal aliens had been deported and more than 1.25 million arrested.

Alongside the figures, the department listed examples of people ICE arrested during the year. Among them was Raul Genesis Ortiz Moran, a Mexican national arrested in July. The department said he has been charged with second-degree murder and aggravated sexual battery in the alleged killing of a 2-year-old girl in Louisa County, Virginia, and that he was turned over to ICE custody after local authorities cooperated with federal law enforcement.