# Mass Deportation Campaign & Interior Enforcement Surge

> Launched the largest interior immigration-enforcement push in modern history, expanding ICE arrests, detention and removals and ending humanitarian parole…

Donald Trump · Immigration · Policy / Major Decision · Jan 23, 2025
Official record: https://deportationdata.org/analysis/immigration-enforcement-first-nine-months-trump.html

## What happened

Launched the largest interior immigration-enforcement push in modern history, expanding ICE arrests, detention and removals and ending humanitarian parole programs, backed by EOs 14159, 14165 and others.

## How it happened

A suite of executive orders plus expanded ICE operations, detention capacity and state/local cooperation.

## Documented impact

- [mixed / substantiated] Removals rose and border crossings fell sharply. — ICE removed ~442,000 in FY2025 (about 171,000 more than the prior year); Southwest border arrests fell to multi-decade lows. DHS claimed millions of 'self-deportations' (a contested figure).
- [negative / substantiated] Interior arrests of non-criminals and detention rose steeply. — Interior deportations rose to ~4.5x pre-inauguration levels; ICE detention grew ~75% (from ~40,000 to ~66,000) in 2025, with arrests of people without criminal convictions increasing.
- [negative / contested] Due-process and civil-liberties concerns and economic effects on labor-dependent industries. — Advocacy groups documented harsher detention conditions; effects on agriculture, construction and services labor markets were debated.

## Public opinion

Handling of immigration

Approve: 38%

Approval fell from 46% (Apr 2025) to 38% (Feb 2026). About half say his deportation approach has 'gone too far,' and ~60% say he overreached sending federal officers into U.S. cities.

Source: AP-NORC, Feb 2026

## Sources

- [Deportation Data Project: first nine months](https://deportationdata.org/analysis/immigration-enforcement-first-nine-months-trump.html)
- [Axios: ICE deported 442,000 in FY2025](https://www.axios.com/2026/04/15/ice-deportations-us-immigration-trump-biden-2025)
- [TRAC: detention and removals record](https://tracreports.org/reports/767/)

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Canonical: https://eo.alanwizemann.com/eo/trump/mass-deportation-campaign-and-interior-enforcement-surge