Immigration enforcement: record deportations and the fight over ICE tactics

Removals are on pace for a record, detention is near all-time highs, and a string of shootings has put ICE's methods at the center of the midterms.

What's happening

The Trump administration has made mass deportation a central goal. ICE reported 356,389 removals in fiscal year 2026 as of late July, putting it on track to pass the record of 438,421 set in fiscal 2013. The administration has set a target of one million deportations a year and wants about 2,000 arrests a day.

Detention reached about 65,800 people in July. ICE says about 60% have a criminal record; an independent analysis by TRAC found that most of the recent growth in detention was people with no criminal conviction.

Why it's controversial now

• Several people have been shot by federal immigration agents, including fatal shootings in Maine and Texas and, this month, a man shot in the neck in Manhattan. ICE says some of those killed were not the targets of the operations.

• Masked agents, arrests at courthouses and workplaces, and deportations to third countries have drawn lawsuits. The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to third-country deportations in December.

• Border czar Tom Homan has said he wants ICE officers equipped with body cameras.

The case for strict enforcement

Supporters say the law should be enforced, that millions entered or stayed illegally in recent years, and that removals deter future illegal crossings. They argue local sanctuary policies force agents to make arrests in public, and that criticism of agents puts officers at risk. Some on the right say the administration still isn't going far enough, especially on worksite enforcement.

The case against current tactics

Critics say enforcement has swept up long-term residents with families and no criminal record, that masked arrests and shootings erode trust and due process, and that the costs to communities and industries that rely on immigrant labor are high. Many favor legal status for long-term residents alongside border security.

What to watch

Final fiscal 2026 removal totals (the fiscal year ended September 30; the figures above are ICE's mid-year count), the Supreme Court's third-country deportation case (argued Dec. 9), and how immigration plays in the midterms. Starting with 2027 coverage, refugees, asylees and people with Temporary Protected Status will also lose eligibility for ACA health subsidies. Pew finds 72% of Republican voters but 53% of Democratic voters call it very important.