The United States deported 483,200 people in the financial year ended September 30, 2026, the highest number in the 23-year history of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as President Donald Trump intensified his crackdown on illegal immigration, according to the Associated Press.
The figure represents a 9 per cent increase over the previous high of 442,640 deportations in the financial year 2025 and a 78 per cent rise from 271,480 in 2024, the last year of Joe Biden’s administration.
The figures, released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday, November 11, indicate the scale of Trump’s immigration enforcement drive since his return to the White House. The administration had made mass deportations a central promise of its election campaign.
However, the latest numbers remain well below the White House’s stated target of one million deportations annually.
Deportations rise, questions remain over criminal records
Despite the record numbers, the DHS announcement did not provide a detailed breakdown of deportees, including how many had criminal convictions, pending charges or no criminal record.
This is significant because Trump had repeatedly promised to prioritise the removal of migrants involved in criminal activities.
According to the Deportation Data Project, only around one-quarter of people deported in July had criminal convictions. More than half were not even facing criminal charges.
Marc Rosenblum, a visiting fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and a former senior DHS official, said ICE was recording unprecedented arrest numbers, supported by increased resources, additional personnel and cooperation from other law enforcement agencies.
However, he cautioned that the limited information released by the department made it difficult to assess the full picture.
Deportation figures also need to be interpreted carefully because the methods used to count removals can differ across years.
How Trump’s immigration crackdown has changed
Since returning to office, Trump has tightened restrictions on both legal and illegal immigration, accelerated deportation procedures and expanded immigration enforcement operations.
The administration has also received billions of dollars in additional funding from Congress to strengthen immigration enforcement.
ICE has expanded its workforce and increased operations across the country. Some enforcement drives have been deliberately conducted in public to discourage migrants from remaining in the US.
The crackdown, however, has triggered protests and political opposition.
In Minneapolis, the deployment of more than 2,000 federal officers earlier this year led to widespread demonstrations. Two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed in separate confrontations involving federal agents.
The incidents prompted the administration to scale back some high-profile enforcement operations. Although arrests initially declined, they subsequently returned to record levels through less-publicised operations.
Political backlash and implications for migrants
The immigration crackdown has also created political challenges for the Trump administration.
According to the Associated Press, some rural communities that traditionally supported Republicans shifted towards Democratic candidates in last week’s midterm elections. Concerns grew after long-time migrant residents, including workers employed on farms, ranches and in meat-processing facilities, were detained.
For Indian nationals living in the US, the broader enforcement environment underlines the importance of maintaining valid immigration status and complying with visa conditions.
Although the latest deportation figures do not provide a nationality-wise breakdown, the enforcement drive is not limited to one migrant community. People without legal status, including those whose permission to remain in the country has expired, could face removal proceedings.
The latest figure also puts the current crackdown in historical perspective. The highest recorded deportation total came during President Dwight D Eisenhower’s immigration campaign in the 1950s, when removals peaked at around 1.1 million in 1954.
The latest numbers show that Trump’s enforcement drive has reached unprecedented levels for ICE, although it has yet to meet the administration’s annual deportation target.
With inputs from the Associated Press (AP)
