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PULSE POINTS
❓WHAT HAPPENED: U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is deporting a record number of around 1,300 migrants per day.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: ICE, President Donald J. Trump, illegal aliens.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The figures were revealed on July 31.
🎯IMPACT: The figures reveal that President Trump appears to be following through on his campaign promises to deport illegals at scale.
IN FULL
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now deporting nearly 1,300 migrants per day, according to new agency data released July 31. The figures show a significant ramp-up under the Trump administration and put the agency on track to surpass the modern-day deportation record set by former President Barack Obama in 2012.
As of July 26, ICE has formally removed 246,287 individuals in fiscal year 2025, up from 228,282 on July 12—an increase of 18,005 deportations in just two weeks. That averages out to 1,286 removals per day. If sustained, ICE could remove nearly 470,000 individuals by the end of the fiscal year, topping Obama’s 2012 record of nearly 420,000.
However, ICE is facing challenges in sustaining this pace. The agency reported that its daily arrests, known as book-ins, have dropped below 900. This decline suggests ICE is struggling to meet President Donald J. Trump’s goal of deporting the millions of migrants who entered the country during what the administration calls the “Biden border chaos.”
The drop in new border crossings contributes to the slower pace. June saw the lowest number of border arrests on record for the Trump administration. In the interior, ICE is having difficulty identifying new deportation targets, and efforts to widen its enforcement scope are encountering legal pushback.
A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled last month that ICE agents conducted unconstitutional sweeps to increase arrest numbers in June. Separately, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled on July 26 that ICE cannot use “expedited removal” procedures on migrants who entered the country under President Biden’s controversial humanitarian parole program.
Despite these hurdles, ICE’s detention numbers remain high. The agency held 56,945 people in custody as of July 26, down slightly from a peak of 57,861 in late June, but still well above the 30,000 to 40,000 detainees regularly held under the Biden government.
President Trump’s recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes a significant funding boost to expand ICE’s manpower, detention, and deportation infrastructure. ICE may, therefore, be able to ramp up enforcement in the coming months.
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