The increase comes as agency leadership places greater emphasis on locating and detaining individuals already facing deportation orders. Internal guidance reportedly directed officers to prioritize people who had received final removal decisions from immigration judges, while continuing enforcement operations in a variety of public settings.
Immigration officers reportedly carried out arrests during scheduled immigration check-ins, roadside traffic stops, and other enforcement operations conducted in public locations. According to federal officials familiar with internal discussions, the White House urged ICE leadership to significantly increase arrest totals, leading the agency to establish approximately 2,000 daily arrests as its new operational benchmark.
As enforcement activity accelerated, the number of migrants being held in ICE custody also climbed substantially. Internal detention figures reportedly showed that the agency’s detained population increased by nearly 4,000 people in just a matter of days, pushing the nationwide total beyond 63,000 individuals by Tuesday.
One of the larger enforcement actions occurred at a manufacturing facility in Birmingham, Alabama. During that operation, federal agents detained more than 30 people while investigating allegations involving identity fraud and unlawful employment practices. State and local law enforcement agencies assisted ICE during the coordinated raid.
The Department of Homeland Security emphasized that the administration intends to continue aggressively enforcing immigration law.
“Our message is clear: If you come to our country illegally, we will find you, we will arrest you and we will deport you,” DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement.
Although DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has not yet publicly addressed the latest surge in arrests, he previously indicated that enforcement operations were expected to expand as additional personnel became available. The department has spent months increasing staffing levels in preparation for broader nationwide operations.
Speaking recently with Breitbart News, Mullin expressed confidence that deportations would significantly outpace last year’s totals.
“We’re on a path this year, 2026, to well surpass the deportations we did in 2025. I mean, our numbers are in fact — within, I’d say probably, within the next six weeks we’ll probably pass what we deported in all of ’25,” Mullin said in a recent interview with Breitbart News.
“What we’re going to do in ’26, maybe two months, I think we’ll definitely do it within two months but should be probably six weeks at the current rate.”
According to Mullin, the projected increase is being fueled by consistently high enforcement activity combined with expanded operational capabilities inside the department. Officials believe the additional personnel and resources now available have positioned ICE to sustain the current pace of arrests and removals.
White House border czar Tom Homan has likewise pointed to significant operational improvements within the agency. He recently noted that ICE has expanded its workforce, added detention space, increased legal resources, and secured favorable court rulings while implementing administrative reforms designed to move immigration cases through the system more efficiently.
If the current pace continues throughout the remainder of the year, analysts cited in the reporting suggest annual deportations could surpass one million removals. That figure could grow even higher if relatives of deported migrants choose to leave the United States voluntarily rather than remain behind.
The administration’s ability to maintain elevated enforcement levels has also been supported by expanded funding approved last year. Those resources have been used to hire additional personnel, increase detention capacity, and strengthen the infrastructure necessary to sustain large-scale immigration enforcement operations as officials continue carrying out the administration’s border security agenda.
