ICE Conducted 150,000 Deportations In The First Six Months Of The Trump Admin, Still Far From Its Goal

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has conducted some 150,000 deportations in the first six months of the Trump administration as it ramps up its enforcement operations.

The figure is still far from its self-imposed goal of recording 1 million deportations in the first year of the administration, but the agency has vowed to ramp up efforts, especially after getting tens of billions in funds following the passage of President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Should deportations continue at this pace, they would reach about 300,000 by the end of the year, the highest figure since fiscal year 2014, when the Obama administration conducted 316,000 ICE removals. The highest amount ever recorded was in 2012, when the agency conducted some 410,000 deportations.

CBS News noted that ICE is not the only agency conducting deportations, and that Customs and Border Protection recorded more than 112,000 in the first six months of the administration. There have also been 13,000 self-deportations recorded.

However, the administration is significantly ramping up efforts to that end, especially after getting an additional $45 billion from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as well as $30 billion to fund every stage of the deportation process. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said last week that the agency plans to use some of that money to hire 10,000 agents to locate and arrest migrants suspected of being in the country unlawfully.

The current pace of deportations amounts to some 800 removals per day. Thomas Homan, President Trump's "border czar," has recently called for ICE to arrest 7,000 undocumented immigrants per day, more than double the current target recently set by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller (3,000) and far above present enforcement levels.

In this context, ICE has directed agents to put ankle monitors to as many migrants enrolled in its Alternatives to Detention program as possible, potentially shackling up tens of thousands of people, according to a new report.

The Washington Post noted that an agency memo from June urged agents to put ankle monitors on migrants "whenever possible." It added that there are about 183,000 adults enrolled in the program who at some point consented to some form of tracking or mandatory check-ins while waiting for their cases to be solved. Now there are some 24,000 people who are wearing ankle monitors.

"If the alien is not being arrested at the time of reporting, escalate their supervision level to GPS ankle monitors whenever possible and increase reporting requirements," reads a passage of the memo from Dawnisha Helland, acting assistant director in the management of non-detained immigrants.

Consulted by the outlet, ICE spokeswoman Emily Covington didn't comment on the memo but said the Trump administration is using ankle monitors as an "enforcement tool" and "more accountability shouldn't come as a surprise." She added that the agency makes decisions on a case-by-case basis and officers get to decide who requires tracking technology.