The Department of Homeland Security says more than half a million illegal aliens have been deported since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, placing the administration on pace to surpass record removal numbers by year’s end.
According to DHS, over 515,000 illegal aliens have been deported since January 20, with projections indicating total deportations could reach 600,000 by the end of the year. The agency also reported that more than 1.6 million individuals have voluntarily self-deported, while federal immigration authorities have arrested an additional 485,000.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the figures represent renewed enforcement activity after years of limited operations. “We are on pace to shatter historic records,” McLaughlin said. “This administration has jumpstarted an agency that was vilified and barred from doing its job for the last four years.”
McLaughlin said the administration’s approach has deterred new illegal crossings, citing a 99.99 percent drop in migration through Panama’s Darien Gap, a major route used by migrants traveling toward the U.S. “Illegal aliens are hearing our message to leave now or face the consequence,” she said.
DHS said immigration agencies, including ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Coast Guard, have continued nationwide enforcement despite ongoing budget constraints tied to the federal shutdown.
Over the weekend, ICE reported the arrests of several foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes, including rape of a child, assault, kidnapping, and drug trafficking. Among those taken into custody were:
- Erick Xavier Romero, a Dominican national convicted of child rape in Boston.
- German Osvaldo Cortez-Chajon, a Guatemalan national convicted of traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act in Dale County, Alabama.
- Graciano Lopez-Flores, a Mexican national convicted of indecent liberties with a child in Orange County, North Carolina.
- Shahed Hassan, a Bangladeshi national convicted of multiple offenses in Wake County, North Carolina.
- Van Pham, a Laotian national convicted of abduction and burglary in Fairfax County, Virginia.
- Patricia Pimental-Cordero, a Dominican national convicted of hit-and-run in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
- Ramona Mercado-Vasquez, a Dominican national convicted of kidnapping and robbery in Bergen County, New Jersey.
- Karlett Zagal-Salazar, a Mexican national convicted of drug trafficking in Wisconsin.
McLaughlin said enforcement operations remain active despite the shutdown. “Nothing—not even a government shutdown—will slow us down from making America safe again,” she said, adding that ICE officers are continuing to prioritize “the worst of the worst” criminal offenders.
