ICE Deports Nearly 900,000 as Enforcement Reaches Historic Peak
The Trump administration has deported nearly 900,000 undocumented immigrants since taking office, with removal flights surging to record levels and a $70 billion enforcement package extending the operation through fiscal 2029.
Deportation flights have more than doubled this May, carrying 296 people out of the country in a single month — the highest monthly total since President Trump took office. Behind each flight are families separated, communities reshaped, and a federal enforcement campaign unlike anything in American history.
The Trump administration has removed nearly 900,000 undocumented immigrants since Jan. 20, 2025, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. That number dwarfs every prior administration's annual totals, including the Obama administration's peak of more than 400,000 deportations.
The scale of the operation has grown steadily. The government has chartered approximately 3,000 removal flights since Trump's inauguration. Domestic flight capacity surged from 250 per month in 2024 to more than 1,000 per month this year.
Border enforcement laid the groundwork for interior operations. Border Patrol has released zero undocumented migrants for nine consecutive months. Arrests at the southern border fell from approximately 200,000 per month in early 2024 to between 9,000 and 10,000 per month by late 2025.
"The Biden administration embraced mass migration and allowed millions of illegal aliens into our country," said Matt O'Brien of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. "Under President Trump, new illegal immigration has fallen to historic lows."
With the border secured, ICE turned its focus inward. Street arrests increased 11 times compared to pre-inauguration levels, according to the Deportation Data Project from UCLA and UC Berkeley. The agency expanded detention capacity from approximately 40,000 beds in January 2025 to 70,000 by January 2026, with the population peaking at 72,000.
The system processes people faster now. The release rate within 60 days of arrest plummeted from 16 percent to 3 percent. Those arrested today face a different reality than those processed just months ago.
President Trump signed a $70 billion immigration enforcement package on June 10. The funding allocates $38.6 billion for ICE, $26 billion for Customs and Border Protection, and $5 billion for DHS enforcement operations. The money extends through fiscal 2029, building infrastructure that outlasts Trump's current term.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise framed immigration as the No. 1 issue of the 2024 election. The campaign promise has become a massive, ongoing federal operation.
DHS claims 2.2 million people have "self-deported" since January 2025. The CBP Home app and Project Homecoming program offer up to $2,600 stipends and free flights to those willing to leave voluntarily. Tens of thousands have used the programs.
A DHS spokesperson told CNN that program users "are but a fraction of those who have voluntarily left the country." Internal documents reviewed by CNN show 72,000 people used the app through March 2026, though the majority were already in ICE detention.
"Each self-deportation with incentives costs thousands less than a traditional deportation," a DHS spokesperson told CNN. The administration views voluntary departure as both a humanitarian and fiscal alternative to forced removal.
Acting ICE Director David Venturella confirmed specific deportations to Breitbart News. Among them: a Dominican Republic man convicted of murder and attempted murder, a Jamaican man convicted of six counts of child molestation, and a Mexican man convicted of nine counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child.
"ICE has been exploring every possible avenue to increase the number of deportations, and we continue to remove more criminals every single day," Venturella said.
Immigration rights advocates have condemned the operations. "These raids tear apart families, cause people to live in fear, and showcase the cruelty of the Trump administration's immigration policies," said John Raphling of Human Rights Watch.
The administration maintains that border enforcement prevents new illegal entries while interior operations target those already in the country. Critics and supporters see the same flights and draw very different conclusions about what they represent.
ICE has set a target of 1 million deportations per year for fiscal 2026 and 2027. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told CNBC the agency continues to "deport illegals that shouldn't be here" and is "still going after the worst of the worst."
DHS posted on X June 20: "DEPORTATION FLIGHTS AT A RECORD HIGH... Our message is clear: LEAVE NOW or we will find you, arrest you, and deport you."
For the families left behind and the communities reshaped by these removals, the numbers translate into empty chairs at dinner tables and neighborhoods transformed. The enforcement campaign has reached historic scale, and the administration shows no sign of slowing.