For years, millions of Americans watched their own immigration laws go completely unenforced. The border was a revolving door, interior enforcement was practically nonexistent, and Washington’s message to the world couldn’t have been clearer: come on in. A nation supposedly built on the rule of law just… stopped bothering.
So the real question became whether any president could actually reverse that kind of institutional rot – whether enforcement could be rebuilt from the ground up and pointed in the right direction. Well, the Department of Homeland Security just dropped its answer. And the numbers are something else.
From the Daily Wire:
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recorded the most arrests and deportations in its history during fiscal year 2026 under President Donald Trump, according to new data released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday.
ICE made roughly 491,000 arrests and carried out 483,000 deportations during the fiscal year, which ran from October 2025 through September 2026, DHS said. The deportation total topped the previous record of 442,640, set in fiscal year 2025. Arrests exceeded the combined total from the three full fiscal years under former President Joe Biden.
That Biden comparison deserves its own spotlight. One year of Trump’s ICE produced more arrests than three entire years under Biden – combined. Deportations surged 78% over Biden’s last complete fiscal year. Turns out when you actually let law enforcement operate, results aren’t exactly subtle.
The patriots behind the numbers
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin was characteristically blunt, calling ICE agents “patriots” who “work around the clock to make America safe again.” These aren’t hollow words. Among the cases DHS highlighted: a man charged with murdering a two-year-old girl in Virginia and a woman convicted of trying to kill her newborn son in New York. Both deported. That’s not politics. That’s protecting American children.
The threat nobody should sleep on
Here’s what should keep every conservative up at night. Democrats seized both chambers of Congress in last week’s midterms and take power in January. Remember “Abolish ICE”? That wasn’t some fringe hashtag – it was a serious Democratic rallying cry. Now they’ll have subpoena power and control of the purse strings. Expect them to slash ICE funding, gut detention capacity, and obstruct deportation operations at every turn.
The roughly $170 billion already appropriated for enforcement buys some time. But money runs out – especially when a hostile Congress is actively working to redirect it.
What you can do right now
Pick up the phone. Call your representatives and tell them plainly: ICE funding is non-negotiable. Every record set this year represents a law honored and an American life protected. Don’t let the next Congress erase that.
This country proved it can enforce its own laws again. Whether it continues to is entirely up to us.
Key Takeaways
- ICE set all-time records with roughly 491,000 arrests and 483,000 deportations in fiscal year 2026.
- One year of Trump’s enforcement exceeded three full years of Biden-era arrests combined.
- Democrats taking Congress in January poses an immediate threat to ICE funding and operations.
- Americans must contact their representatives now to protect immigration enforcement from being gutted.
Sources: Daily Wire, CBS News
