US Carries Out Record 483,200 Deportations and Over 491,000 Immigration Arrests in 2026

The United States government has reported that deportations and immigration arrests reached the highest level in the country's history this fiscal year. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out 483,200 deportations and more than 491,000 immigration arrests in fiscal year 2026.

According to DHS, the deportation total breaks all records in ICE's 23-year history. The previous record was 442,640 deportations carried out in 2025.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement, 'Fiscal Year 2026 saw the highest number of ICE deportations and arrests for any year in ICE's history. September 2026 was the best September in ICE's history in terms of arrests.'

ICE said it made more than 48,000 arrests in September. In August, arrests had reached 50,925, part of a two-month run of record highs.

The report came days after President Donald Trump acknowledged that his administration's immigration crackdown may have been 'too tough.' In a recent interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, Trump said, 'A lot of people would say it is great but a lot of people would think it is too tough.' He nevertheless defended his record, saying he gets very high marks for removing 'the bad ones,' but is hurt because people who had good jobs and whose only violation was entering the country illegally were also removed.

Steven Camarota, director of research at the Washington, DC-based Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), told Al Jazeera there is no question the administration has increased enforcement more than any prior president. He said there is also evidence the illegal immigrant population has declined significantly because of increased out-migration driven by fear of enforcement.

However, Camarota highlighted ambiguity in the figures DHS released. He said the data is always incomplete and difficult to measure, and that he had not been able to determine what percentage of the individuals were interior enforcement cases and what percentage were turned around at the border or at airports. Increased removals, he concluded, can encourage more people to go home, which is a central goal of the administration.

Trump's immigration crackdown has become a political vulnerability. His approval rating on the issue has fallen to 38 percent from 50 percent at the start of his presidency, based on Reuters/Ipsos polling.

Democrats appear to be preparing to move against Trump's immigration crackdown when they take control of Congress next year. They plan to investigate ICE tactics and expand paths to legal status, despite limits on how much they can achieve.

Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and the soon-to-be chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Reuters in a statement, 'We will investigate the administration weaponising DHS against Americans (and) its out of control immigration policies.'

At a news conference at the US Capitol, Henry Cuellar, a centrist Texas Democrat, said he had already had conversations with Trump officials about focusing deportation efforts on criminals. 'We're not going to be extreme,' Cuellar said.

But a number of Democratic voices sounded firmer. 'We will rip ICE apart,' Senator-elect Peggy Flanagan said while celebrating her triumph in Minnesota, where federal immigration agents shot dead two people during an enforcement surge in January.

Two US citizens, Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, were killed in Minneapolis in incidents caught on bystander video. Their shooting deaths went viral, prompting international outrage. Other footage shows masked agents deploying chemical agents and beating civilians who were documenting their activities or protesting.