Mass Deportation Numbers, January 2026
New Report by the American Immigration Council, published January 14, 2026:
The number of people held in ICE detention on any given day increased by over 75% in one year.
By the end of November 2025, ICE was using 104 more facilities for immigration detention than at the start of the year, a 91% increase.
The Trump administration has dramatically changed the profile of who is being arrested by increasing the use of “at-large” arrests in American communities by 600%, leading to an unprecedented deployment of federal law enforcement.
With the funding provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, ICE has enough funding to operate upwards of 135,000 detention beds through the end of FY 2029.
These changes in arrest practices have led to a 2,450% increase in the number of people with no criminal record being held in ICE detention on any given day.
President Trump’s executive order calling for the maximum use of detention has created a “no release” system where increasingly few individuals are able to seek release on bond. By the end of November 2025, discretionary releases from detention fell by 87%.
With release on bond no longer an option for many people seeking relief, and deleterious conditions inside facilities, immigrants are increasingly giving up. As of November 2025, 14.3 people were deported directly from detention for every one person released from ICE detention pending a hearing.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Release Date: January 20, 2026: “In President Trump’s first year back in office, nearly 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations and more than 675,000 deportations.”
NBC News U.S. Deportation Tracker uses ICE data, both public and internal, as well as data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency:
