Overview
- Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin posted Wednesday that "las deportaciones continuarán" and said future detentions and removals will be carried out more quietly to reduce public tensions.
- DHS filings show the agency has issued more than 175,000 migration sanctions since the 2025 enforcement reforms and reports that over 82,000 people with removal or voluntary‑departure orders left the United States through Sept. 14, 2026.
- Independent estimates from the Migration Policy Institute put total removals since Jan. 20, 2025, at roughly 980,000 through July 31, 2026, with about 660,000 estimated for fiscal 2026 and roughly 80 percent of those recorded through July being people without criminal convictions.
- A Forbidden Stories consortium investigation found roughly $410 million allocated to facilitate deportations to third countries and documented at least 25,447 transfers to recipient states through Aug. 31, 2026, with about 20,000 sent to Mexico.
- The enforcement push follows broad Republican losses in the 2026 elections and rising voter concern over the economy and democracy, a dynamic that could increase legal challenges, deepen fear in immigrant communities and shift oversight battles in Congress.