You've probably heard the headlines. They’re everywhere—massive numbers, "historic" shifts, and promises of a "one million a year" pace. But if you actually look at the raw data coming out of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and independent trackers like TRAC, the reality of how many people has ice deported so far is a bit more complicated than a single soundbite.
It's been a wild year for immigration enforcement.
Honestly, the numbers are shifting so fast that what was true last Tuesday might be outdated by this Friday. Since the change in administration in early 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has pivoted from a border-heavy focus to an interior-first strategy.
Let's look at the actual count.
The Big Number: Total Deportations and "Self-Deportations"
If you ask the government, the number is huge. On December 10, 2025, DHS announced that over 605,000 deportations had been carried out since January 20, 2025. That sounds like a staggering increase, but you have to distinguish between a formal "removal" (deportation) and what they call "self-deportation."
DHS claims another 1.9 million people left the country voluntarily after the administration ramped up pressure. They even launched a "CBP Home" app, offering free flights and $1,000 incentives for people to leave before they were arrested.
But here’s the thing. Independent researchers are seeing a different picture.
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The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimated that ICE conducted about 340,000 deportations in Fiscal Year 2025 (which ended in September). While that is a 25% jump from the 271,000 recorded in 2024, it’s nowhere near the "millions" often cited in political rallies.
Why the Numbers Look Different Depending on Who You Ask
Statistics are slippery.
ICE removals generally fall into two buckets: border removals and interior removals. For years, the vast majority of "ICE deportations" were actually people caught at the border and handed over to ICE for processing. In 2024, about 82% of ICE removals were these "border-initiated" cases.
That changed in 2025.
Interior arrests—meaning people picked up at their homes, jobs, or local jails—doubled. ICE daily deportations went from 600 in January to about 1,200 by mid-summer.
Breaking down the Fiscal Year 2025 and 2026 data:
- FY 2024 (Full Year): 271,484 total removals.
- FY 2025 (Transition Year): * Oct 2024 – Jan 2025 (Biden): ~85,769 removals.
- Jan 2025 – Sept 2025 (Trump): ~234,211 removals.
- FY 2026 (Early Data): From October 1 to mid-November 2025, ICE reported 56,392 removals.
Basically, if you add up the "Trump era" removals through late 2025, you get around 290,603. This is higher than 2024, but only by about 7% when you look at the total annual pace. Why isn't it higher? Because the border effectively "closed" in terms of crossings. Border Patrol encounters hit a 55-year low in late 2025, which means there were fewer people at the border for ICE to deport in the first place.
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The Detention Surge: 70,000 People Behind Bars
To understand how many people has ice deported so far, you have to look at where they are being held. Detention is the bottleneck. You can't deport more people than you can catch and hold.
By December 2025, the number of people in ICE detention hit an all-time high of 70,000.
When the year started, that number was around 40,000. That’s a 75% increase in less than twelve months. And it’s not just "dangerous criminals" being held. In fact, the data shows the opposite.
As of late 2025, roughly 74% of people in ICE detention had no criminal record. In 2024, about 65% of detainees had a criminal conviction. By September 2025, that plummeted to 35%. ICE is increasingly sweeping up "other immigration violators"—people whose only "crime" is being in the country without papers.
Where is this happening the most?
It depends on where you live. Some states are basically rolling out the red carpet for ICE, while others are fighting back in court.
Texas is the heavy hitter here. ICE arrest rates in Texas nearly doubled in 2025. They’re averaging about 110 arrests per 100,000 residents. Florida and Tennessee are also high-intensity zones where local police work hand-in-hand with federal agents.
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On the flip side, states like Illinois, New York, and Oregon have passed laws to block ICE from local jails. In New York, the ICE arrest rate went up, but it’s still a fraction of what you see in the South.
The Grim Reality: 2025 was a Deadly Year
It hasn't been without a cost. 2025 was officially the deadliest year for ICE detainees in two decades. 32 people died in ICE custody last year. That matches the record set back in 2004.
Six of those deaths happened in December alone.
Critics say the rapid expansion of the detention system—adding 104 new facilities in one year—led to a collapse in medical standards. When you grow that fast, things break. And in this case, the things breaking were human lives.
What's Next? Actionable Insights for 2026
If you’re trying to keep track of how many people has ice deported so far, don't just look at the total number. Look at the type of removal.
- Watch the "Interior" Numbers: The real shift isn't the total count; it's that ICE is now hunting inside the U.S. instead of just waiting at the border.
- Monitor Legal Challenges: Many of these deportations are being fought in the 9th and 2nd Circuit courts. A single ruling can pause thousands of removals overnight.
- Check the "Self-Deportation" Stats: The government is banking on people leaving on their own. If those 1.9 million "voluntary" departures are real, it changes the economic landscape of industries like construction and agriculture significantly.
- Stay Updated via Independent Sources: The DHS newsroom is a PR machine. For the most neutral data, follow the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University or the Migration Policy Institute (MPI). They scrub the government's own data to find the discrepancies.
The pace for 2026 is projected to be even higher. With $15 billion in new funding for detention beds, the "bottleneck" is being removed. Whether they hit that one-million-a-year goal depends more on the courts and local city "sanctuary" policies than anything else.