The Department of Homeland Security revealed on Tuesday that over 2 million illegal immigrants have left the United States during the first nine months of President Donald Trump‘s second term.
The announcement follows the Trump administration’s commitment to deport a minimum of a million people living in the U.S. without legal status by the end of 2025.
As of this week, 1.6 million people have already “voluntarily self-deported,” and the government has carried out an additional 527,000 deportations, according to DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
Administration officials have ramped up deportation efforts by utilizing a “whole of government” approach to target illegal immigration. In addition to Border Patrol contributing to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, many state and local officials, as well as police and law enforcement divisions, are participating in the White House’s agenda to eradicate the country of those who lack legal status.
“My entire career in the Border Patrol, you would always hear the words, ‘Whole of government approach’ … meaning we’re going to bring every resource in the U.S. government to bear on a problem in this country. [But] I had never seen it,” Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks said during a September event, during which he suggested illegal border crossings could reach zero.
“I can tell you right now, for the first time in my career in uniform, and from the military up to here, going on 36 years now, I’m seeing all the government approach,” Banks added. “There’s an administration that said, ‘We’re not gonna accept no for an answer. You’re going to enforce the laws.’”
McLaughlin said this week that the deportations announced so far are “just the beginning.”
“In the face of a historic number of injunctions from activist judges and threats to law enforcement, DHS, ICE, and CBP have not just closed the border, but made historic strides to carry out President Trump’s promise of arresting and deporting illegal aliens who have invaded our country. Illegal aliens are hearing our message to leave now or face the consequence: Migrants are now turning back before they even reach our borders,” she said.
White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller has pushed ICE to more than triple the number of daily arrests, even as deportations targeting longtime residents allowed to enter the U.S. under previous administrations have sparked outcry. Concerns have also been raised on a bipartisan basis that targeting people working in industries heavily reliant on migrant labor could hurt the economy.
The DHS announced Sunday that it will continue to expand operations targeting illegal immigrants, crediting an increase of 175,000 applications to join ICE as providing the opportunity to “really surge our workforce.”
TRUMP IS BUILDING A SMART WALL ON THE BORDER. HERE’S WHAT THAT MEANS
In the wake of pressure from hardliners, such as Miller, within the Trump administration to escalate deportations, ICE appears to be undergoing a major shake-up. ICE leaders are being replaced across multiple major cities amid reports that there are simmering internal tensions within the Trump administration over acceptable immigration enforcement strategies, pitting leaders across the DHS against border czar Tom Homan and ICE Director Matthew Albence, not Todd Lyons.
As some jails and ICE detention centers grapple with providing humane living conditions for the influx of migrant detainees, the Trump administration is eying plans to build multiple holding facilities for deportees in Louisiana, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Utah, and Kansas, according to a CNN report published last Friday. The new detention centers could each house as many as 10,000 people, according to the outlet.
