ICE Deportation Record: What 483,200 Removals Mean Abroad

The ICE deportation record set in fiscal year 2026 stands at 483,200 removals, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on November 12, 2026. According to DHS, the figure beats the previous agency high of 442,640 from fiscal 2025. Every removal depends on a receiving government, so the total is also a measure of how far Washington has pushed other states to cooperate.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the US federal agency responsible for interior immigration enforcement. The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026. DHS also reported more than 491,000 immigration arrests over the same period.

How many people did ICE deport in fiscal year 2026?

DHS put the total at 483,200 deportations. CBS News reported that the figure is about 18 percent above the 409,849 removals ICE recorded in fiscal 2012, the agency’s longstanding benchmark, and nearly 78 percent above the 271,484 recorded in fiscal 2024, the last full year of the Biden administration.

In September 2026 alone, DHS said ICE made more than 48,000 arrests and carried out 44,000 removals. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in the department’s release that the year produced the highest arrest and deportation totals in ICE’s history. DHS also claimed that more than 3 million migrants have left the United States under President Donald Trump, a figure that mixes enforced removals with other departures and comes from the department itself.

The AP, as carried by The Korea Times, noted that the total still falls short of the White House goal of 1 million deportations a year. The AP also linked the enforcement drive to the political backlash that contributed to a Democratic victory in the midterm elections held last week.

Why does the ICE deportation record matter beyond the United States?

Removal is a diplomatic act as well as a legal one. A person can be deported only if a government issues travel documents or agrees to accept them, and Washington has used visas, funding and bilateral pressure to widen that circle.

Third Country Deportation Watch, a project affiliated with Refugees International and Human Rights First, counts agreements with at least 35 countries. A consortium tally compiled by Forbidden Stories found that at least 25,447 people had been deported to third countries by August 31, 2026. The same reporting said the administration earmarked $410 million for receiving countries and facilitating organizations.

Third-country deportation means sending a person to a nation other than their own. Critics, including legal groups cited by Al Jazeera, argue that it can send people to places where they may face danger. Governments that accept such transfers describe them differently: Jamaica’s ministries said in a joint statement that its arrangement is a transit mechanism meant to enable onward returns, as Al Jazeera reported on October 14, 2026.

Which countries are absorbing the deportees?

Mexico is the largest single case. Third Country Deportation Watch estimates that about 20,000 non-Mexican nationals were sent to Mexico between January 2025 and August 2026, under an arrangement whose text has not been published. The Migration Policy Institute noted that six such deals, including those with Mexico, Moldova and Uzbekistan, have undisclosed texts.

Latin American nationals bear most of the direct impact. A La Nación analysis of ICE data found that Mexico accounted for 263,550 of the departures recorded between 2022 and 2026, or 47.6 percent of the regional total, followed by Guatemala with 83,754 and Honduras with 68,339.

The arrangements have strained some relationships. In August, Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo confirmed that 2,284 deported Mexicans had arrived in his country that year as a transit stop before onward travel to Mexico. Mexico’s foreign ministry said it had told US authorities it rejects the practice, according to AP reporting carried by ABC7. Related pressure points on the border are covered in Trump Tariffs on Mexico: What a Caravan Threat Could Double.

What are the limits of the record figures?

The record applies to ICE, not to all federal removals. CBS News noted, citing independent analyses, that combined ICE and Customs and Border Protection deportations were much higher in earlier decades, reaching roughly 1.86 million in fiscal 2000. Visaverge, an immigration news site, likewise stressed that the DHS figure describes an agency record and not every federal removal measure.

The composition of the total is also contested. DHS highlights cases involving people charged with serious crimes. Independent researchers cited in coverage of the release estimate that a substantial share of recent deportations involved people with no criminal convictions. DHS has not yet published a breakdown tied to the full-year figure, according to Visaverge.

What to watch

• Congress after the midterms: how newly empowered Democrats use oversight and appropriations on ICE funding and third-country payments.
• Further DHS data: any breakdown of fiscal 2026 removals by criminal record and by nationality.
• New receiving-country deals: additional announcements or first flights under agreements already signed, which Forbidden Stories said were finalized with seven more countries.
• Mexico and Central America: any formal change in Mexico’s stance on transfers through Guatemala and Honduras.
• Court challenges: rulings on the legality of third-country removals, including cases brought by legal groups abroad.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• ICE Breaks Records in Fiscal Year 2026, With Most Arrests and Deportations in Agency's History (DHS)
• ICE deportations and arrests hit record high (CBS News)
• ICE reports record-high immigration arrests and deportations since Trump's return to White House (The Korea Times)
• Jamaica accepts first flight of third-country deportations from US (Al Jazeera)
• US Signs Third-Country Deportation Agreements with 35 Nations (Visaverge)
• Third Country Deportation Watch
• How the United States Is Using Third Countries to Expand Immigration Control (Migration Policy Institute)
• Deportaciones del ICE: casi medio millón de ciudadanos de seis países de América Latina (La Nación)
• EE.UU. deporta a mexicanos a Centroamérica (ABC7 Los Angeles)
• Record ICE arrests and deportations in FY2026 (Fall River Reporter)

Top image: ajay_suresh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

This article was produced by the Intelligence Report Desk. Sources are linked below.