ICE reported 474,850 arrests in the 12 months ending September 30—about twice the 239,890 recorded a year earlier and more than four times the 113,430 in 2024—calling it the highest arrest and deportation total in the agency’s 23-year history.

Over that same fiscal year, ICE deported 483,200 people, 9% above its previous high of 442,640 and 78% more than the 271,480 deported in 2024.

Enforcement remained intense at the end of the period: ICE made more than 48,000 arrests in September, following a record 50,925 in August and record monthly totals in July.

The figures were the first similarly precise arrest and deportation totals ICE had released since Donald Trump returned to the White House, but they did not show how many people arrested had criminal histories.

Arrests continued across multiple states after the midterm elections, despite Trump saying his crackdown may have been “too tough” and expressing interest in working with Democrats; Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said deportations would continue.

Advocates described detentions in everyday settings and at ICE appointment offices, including in South Florida, where María Bilbao said she received at least one daily call from someone detained since the election.

In Alabama, Venezuelan twin brothers Luis and Carlos Orta-Santoro, both 19 and soccer players at Wallace State Community College, were detained while returning to college despite pending asylum applications and valid work permits; DHS said they had overstayed after entering legally and would have their case heard by an immigration judge.

Gustavo Romanello and Agustin Baccega, an Argentine married couple with work permits while seeking asylum, were arrested at Phoenix airport while traveling to a funeral and remained detained; DHS said they had overstayed after entering legally in 2020, while a family friend said they had no criminal records.

In San Diego, an 8-year-old Haitian boy living with his uncle was taken into custody after the uncle brought him to an ICE office for a Nov. 4 appointment; school officials said the detention disrupted his family, community and education, while advocates condemned it as traumatic.

In Los Angeles, residents saw masked immigration officers and vehicles outside Adventist Health White Memorial Medical Center’s emergency entrance; the Department of Homeland Security said ICE does not target hospitals, a Justice Department prosecutor said officers had brought a detainee there for treatment, and the hospital said it was not involved in enforcement.