U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out 483,200 removals in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the highest annual total in the agency's history, the Department of Homeland Security said this week in figures first reported by CBS News. That surpasses the previous record of 442,640 removals set just a year earlier, in fiscal 2025, as the Trump administration's immigration crackdown has intensified through its second year.

DHS said ICE also recorded more than 491,000 arrests over the same period, including nearly 475,000 administrative immigration arrests. The pace accelerated as the year went on: the agency reported 50,925 arrests in August, a new monthly record, and continued making more than 48,000 arrests a month in September.

A disputed slice of the data

DHS says that among deported immigrants who had lived in the U.S. for at least two years, 71% had no criminal conviction — a figure the administration has framed as evidence that its enforcement is reaching people who have otherwise avoided legal consequences for illegal entry. But outside analyses of the government's own underlying numbers complicate that framing: a review of Deportation Data Project records found that people who were never charged with or convicted of any crime made up roughly 47% of ICE's arrests in June, and crossed the halfway mark by July, raising questions about how much of the record-setting enforcement is targeting undocumented immigrants with no separate criminal history at all.

DHS SAYS ENFORCEMENT HIT RECORD LEVELS; OUTSIDE REVIEWS QUESTION HOW MUCH OF IT TARGETS PEOPLE WITH NO CRIMINAL RECORD

The figures arrive as ICE's tactics remain a live political flashpoint following last week's midterm elections, in which exit polling suggested immigration enforcement contributed to Democratic gains in several swing districts. Administration officials have continued to defend the pace of arrests and removals as a core campaign promise being fulfilled, while Democratic lawmakers newly emboldened by the midterms have signaled plans to push for oversight hearings and funding restrictions on ICE's expanded operations.

DHS has not yet released its full year-end dataset publicly in the same granular form used by outside researchers to check the agency's topline claims, meaning independent verification of the exact composition of this year's arrests — how many had pending charges, prior convictions or no criminal history at all — will likely continue to lag behind the administration's own public statements for weeks or months to come.