It was long rumored — and denied — but ICE has now made its goal of a million deportations a year official.
The agency quietly included it in its budget explanation sent to Congress several weeks ago, telling lawmakers that it has the “capacity” and “commitment” to boot more illegal immigrants.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also revealed in the document that it ousted 442,637 migrants last year, and just 166,939 of them had criminal records, aside from crossing the border illegally. That’s 38%, far below the 70% level Homeland Security has been publicly touting.
ICE also said it wants to have 99,000 deportation beds in use each day this year and next. That’s also higher than the agency said in planning documents earlier this year.
The revelations suggest an agency that, despite chaos and missteps over the past 12 months, including shooting deaths of Americans and repeated legal battles, remains dedicated to President Trump’s mass deportation mission.
Deporting a million people a year was an informal goal set by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, though Homeland Security officials dismissed it — most recently by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who flatly rejected the million-migrant mark in testimony to Congress.
“There’s been no discussion of requirement on numerical quota targets,” she told senators before her ouster in March.
The new budget, though, specifically says targets.
“ICE has increased its future annual target to 1,000,000 returns and removals to reflect expanded operational capacity and ongoing commitment to enforcing immigration laws,” the agency wrote.
ICE said its goal for deporting criminals is 500,000 a year for both this year and next. That works out to a 50% rate. In fiscal 2025, which ended Sept. 30, ICE said it tallied 166,939 criminal removals or returns out of a total of 442,637 deportations.
And ICE said for immigration-related arrests, it set a goal of 400,000 a year. Last year it tallied 167,651.
ICE’s deportation target includes removals and returns.
A removal is a formal deportation, which carries a bar on attempting to reenter and potential criminal penalties for those caught trying.
A return is less severe, amounting to an agreement by a migrant to go home without putting the government through the time and cost of the formal removal process.
Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies, said using returns gives ICE more tools — and lets it offer immigrants more choices to entice them to depart.
It isn’t used on those with serious criminal records or on ones the administration feels need the extra consequences. For those who have only immigration violations or traffic offenses in addition to their unlawful status, it can be a cost-effective way of ushering people out.
“ICE would rather pay for airline tickets now than detention beds,” Ms. Vaughan said.
The returns also explain a discrepancy in DHS’ numbers. The department had been touting deportation totals significantly higher than ICE’s own removal data and Customs and Border Protection’s return numbers suggested.
ICE, for example, had about 330,000 formal removals in fiscal 2025. According to the new budget document, that means about 110,000 others were granted voluntary returns.
Ms. Vaughan said the Obama administration also used returns to enhance its ICE deportation numbers.
Mark Morgan, who served as acting head of ICE and Customs and Border Protection in the first Trump administration and is now part of an effort known as the Mass Deportation Coalition, said the deportation goal should be a million formal removals and shouldn’t include returns.
He also said he doesn’t see much evidence that the administration will meet the goal.
“Unfortunately, the data confirms what the Mass Deportation Coalition has repeatedly been saying — there is not a mass deportation campaign underway,” he told The Washington Times.
RJ Hauman, president of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement, said thanks to the infusion of cash from last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE already has more than enough money to raise its deportation goals — and the GOP needs to deliver on that.
“Republicans do not want to spend the next six months or so explaining that, with the resources already enacted, they went from running on mass deportation to ’I ran,’” he said.
As of April 4, or a little more than halfway through fiscal 2026, ICE reported 234,236 formal removals. That figure does not include voluntary returns.
Vanessa Cardenas, executive director of America’s Voice, an immigrant-rights group, said the million deportation goal was “official recognition of what we’ve known — that despite the public’s rejection of the violence and cruelty, Stephen Miller’s campaign continues unabated.”
She added, “While the administration keeps on using the talking point of the ’worst of the worst,’ the pressure to fulfill quotas ensures that instead they’re going after many long-established people with deeply rooted lives and families here. Like military spouses and college kids traveling home for the holidays and even those who already have some sort of status, like the Venezuelan doctors in South Texas who this administration stripped legal status from and then targeted for detention.”
ICE didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Homeland Security, in a statement, touted improvements made since the Biden administration.
“Under this administration we are enforcing the laws of this country especially compared to the target numbers under the previous administration,” DHS said.
It also celebrated Mr. Trump’s overall record on immigration, pointing to “the most secure border in American history” and to what it said were 3 million illegal immigrants who have departed the U.S.
Most of those are believed to have left on their own and aren’t included in the ICE or CBP numbers.
