U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 442,637 people in fiscal year 2025, according to data released this week in the Department of Homeland Security’s congressional budget request for fiscal year 2027.
The figure, covering October 2024 through September 2025, marks a 63% increase over the previous fiscal year and exceeds the agency’s internal target of 175,000. It spans the final months of the Biden administration and most of President Donald Trump’s second term.
The statistics, first reported by Axios, represent the initial comprehensive official deportation tally released under Trump’s current administration. They come as the White House continues to emphasize stricter immigration enforcement, including expanded detention capacity and accelerated removals.
Of the total, 166,939 involved individuals with criminal convictions or pending charges — more than double the target and an 88% rise from fiscal 2024, according to the DHS document.
DHS has separately claimed combined figures of nearly 3 million removals when including self-deportations, and deterrence efforts at the border that have resulted in the lowest number of illegal crossings since the 1970s.
Officials have attributed these numbers to increased flight operations, better coordination with foreign governments, and a sharper focus on public safety threats.
Trump, who campaigned for his second term on the “largest mass deportation operation in American history,” frequently cited goals of going after criminals first. Critics, however, argue the totals remain modest relative to campaign promises, while framing any talk of prioritizing the worst of the worst as moderation or betrayal.
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Citing the Oversight Project’s head Mike Howell, who served as a Homeland Security official during Trump’s first term, some media sources have been quick to capture criticisms
“The truth is the first year was not a year of mass deportation.” Howell commented, “A conscious decision was made to go after the worst first, which was, we’ll call it, a deviation from the central campaign promise of mass deportations.”
Responding to Howell’s criticisms, White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said: “Nobody is changing the Administration’s immigration enforcement agenda and the President’s entire team is on the same page when it comes to implementing his policies.”
Emphasizing that President Trump’s highest priority is still the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger communities, Jackson highlighted the administration’s record.
“As the Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly said, approximately 70% of deportations to date have been illegal aliens with criminal records,” Jackson told AOL.
“Thanks to President Trump’s strong immigration enforcement policies, approximately 3 million illegals have left the United States, either through forced deportation or self-deportation, with zero illegals coming through the most secure border in U.S. History for nine straight months.”
With the budget request signaling plans to ramp up targets – projecting 1 million annual removals in future years as the administration seeks additional resources for detention and transportation – supporters are cheering the numbers as evidence of restored enforcement after what they describe as lax policies under the prior administration.
