The White House’s designated border czar, Tom Homan, said on Wednesday that arrests of illegal immigrants have reached their highest levels in the 23-year history of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as the agency announced more than 1,500 detentions per day.
In an interview with NewsNation, Homan said that “in June, we had the highest numbers of arrests in the history of the agency of ICE and July’s tracking even beat that. So we’re hitting all cylinders now,” referring to the detaining of people living illegally in the United States.
“Since we’re fully funded, we just got to keep going. I know that this administration was put under enormous pressure as a result of the previous administration letting in tens of millions of people … we had no idea who they were,” he also said.
ICE has deported 356,389 people so far in fiscal year 2026, according to data published by ICE on July 20, which covers Oct. 1, 2025, to July 11 of this year.
On average, that means roughly 1,255 people are being removed per day.
According to data, ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) daily arrests reached 1,593 on average for July. In June, that figure averaged out to roughly 1,437 arrests per day.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees both ICE and CBP, told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement on Tuesday that the agency will continue to “arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists.”
“More than 3 million illegal aliens are out of the country,” the spokesperson added, saying that illegal immigrants should pay heed to warnings from DHS that “we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you.”
Earlier this month, ICE faced controversy following two recent fatal shooting incidents involving agents in Maine and Houston, Texas, that drew local protests.
At one point, Homan confirmed there would be a suspension in ICE traffic stops, although that was overruled by President Donald Trump.
Trump also commented on the suspension, arguing in a Truth Social post that the vehicle stops need to continue and that a suspension would play into the hands of Democrats and criminals.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump heavily campaigned on mass deportations and has issued executive orders relating to stopping illegal and legal immigration into the United States.
In an interview on Sunday, Homan said that at least one ICE agent would have to wear a body camera and record during vehicular stops from now on.
Body cameras, he told Fox News, often “exonerate more law enforcement than they convict, and I want officers to wear body cameras because I want the American people to see what the officers saw when they took that action.”
ICE was established in March 2003 as part of a federal government-wide reorganization of immigration agencies in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
This article was originally published by The Epoch Times.
