America’s most sweeping immigration crackdown in a generation has entered a new phase. White House border czar Tom Homan took to the stage at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, this week and delivered a blunt message to the packed hall of immigration officials, law enforcement officers, and private contractors: mass deportations are far from over. “If you think last year’s historic number is good, wait till next year,” Homan said. “You ain’t seen it yet. This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming.”
The Trump administration’s official figures, published on the White House website on May 5, 2026, reveal the scale of the operation. More than 605,000 people have been formally deported since Trump returned to office. An additional 1.9 million people have self-deported, bringing the total number of individuals who have left the United States under this administration to over 2.5 million. The U.S. had negative net migration in 2025, the first time that had happened in at least half a century. ICE currently runs approximately 1,200 arrests per day. Last week alone, the agency deported 2,700 people.
But the administration is recalibrating its methods, even as its ambitions remain unchanged. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who replaced Kristi Noem in March after Noem was ousted following a political storm over the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens by immigration officers in Minneapolis during a crackdown in January, has shifted tone publicly. “We’re purposefully trying to be a little bit more quiet,” Mullin told Newsmax. “I made this very clear when we were moving forward with my nomination that I wanted to get DHS out of the headlines.”
Mullin has paused plans to allow home raids using only administrative warrants — without judicial oversight. He has also halted proposals to convert warehouses into mass detention facilities. Where his predecessor staged high-profile street operations in New York City, Mullin visited North Carolina to review hurricane recovery efforts. The optics have changed. The machinery has not.
ICE has rapidly expanded its network of local enforcement partnerships. The number of 287(g) agreements — arrangements that allow state and local police to carry out immigration enforcement functions — has grown from 135 in 20 states before Trump took office to more than 1,400 agreements across 41 states and territories. Florida and Texas now mandate active cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE. In some states, immigration checks occur during routine traffic stops.
The State Department has paused immigrant visa processing for 75 countries whose nationals access U.S. welfare benefits at rates the administration considers unacceptable. DHS conducted more than 206 million benefits eligibility checks in 2025 to ensure that government assistance programs serve only U.S. citizens and legal residents.
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Trump’s original campaign promise was to deport one million people per year. At a congressional hearing last month, the acting head of enforcement operations acknowledged the administration remains short of that goal. Deportations and arrests now prioritize individuals with criminal records or national security flags, officials say, though Homan was explicit: “It doesn’t mean because you prioritize criminals, everybody else is off the table.”
Civil liberties groups and immigration advocates warn that racial profiling and constitutional violations are accelerating across communities. The American Immigration Council notes that federal immigration enforcement operations have created widespread fear, confusion, and instances of disregard for due process. More than half of U.S. respondents in polling earlier this year said immigration enforcement tactics had “gone too far,” a sharp political warning ahead of the November midterms. But nearly three-quarters of Republicans approved of ICE’s performance, reflecting a deeply divided country — and a deportation campaign that shows no signs of slowing.
