ICE Arrests 10,000 in Five Days as Trump's Deportation Drive Tops 2.5 Million Departures

America's immigration enforcement machine is operating at a scale without modern precedent. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested roughly 10,000 people in a five-day surge at the end of June, the sharpest burst yet in the Trump administration's mass-deportation campaign — and a sign of how the agency's tactics have evolved.

Rather than the high-profile sweeps through major cities that marked the campaign's early phases, ICE has shifted to quieter methods of reaching the president's deportation goals — a change in approach that has drawn less television coverage while producing bigger numbers. The agency's capacity has grown to match its mandate: its corps of officers and agents has more than doubled, from 10,000 to 22,000.

The cumulative figures are striking. The administration reports more than 605,000 people deported since the president returned to office, with a further 1.9 million estimated to have left the country voluntarily — 'self-deportation' driven by the enforcement climate — bringing total departures past 2.5 million. Officials say the United States recorded negative net migration in 2025, the first time in at least half a century that more people left the country than arrived.

The policy reach extends beyond arrests. The administration has terminated Temporary Protected Status for nationals of several countries, including Somalia, Venezuela and Haiti, and the State Department has paused immigrant-visa processing for 75 countries, citing welfare-usage rates among their migrants.