Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the Trump administration is on track to deport more people in the next six weeks than it did during all of 2025, arguing that immigration enforcement has accelerated sharply under his leadership.
The projection comes as the administration continues to highlight record removal figures that have also drawn scrutiny from immigration researchers, who question how some deportation statistics are calculated.
Mullin told Breitbart News the administration is on track to surpass all of 2025's deportation total within six weeks. "Within the next six weeks we'll probably pass what we deported in all of '25," he said.
Mullin attributed the increase to a strategy focused on migrants with final removal orders, felony convictions or pending felony charges, as well as people whose asylum claims were denied or who failed to appear for immigration court hearings. He said officers often encounter and arrest additional undocumented immigrants while serving warrants on those individuals.
The secretary said roughly 70% of people arrested in daily immigration operations have pending or prior felony charges, though he did not provide supporting data. He also argued that expanding partnerships with state and local law enforcement through the federal 287(g) program has boosted enforcement by allowing trained local officers to carry out certain immigration functions.
Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin sat down exclusively with Breitbart News at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) headquarters last week ahead of his 100-day mark as Secretary, explaining that deportations are "way up" this year and that 2026 numbers will... pic.twitter.com/vlBOgdXKiR
— WHITE_GURL_ FROM_THA_ LOU (@TRUMPGIRL_STL) June 29, 2026
The Department of Homeland Security has promoted its immigration record since President Donald Trump returned to office. In December, DHS claimed it had carried out more than 603,000 removals and returns during 2025, calling it the highest annual total in recent history and attributing the increase to expanded interior enforcement and a sharp decline in unlawful border crossings.
That figure, however, has been disputed by outside researchers. Immigration analyst Austin Kocher argued in January that DHS combined deportations from the U.S. interior with returns at the border and removals carried out by multiple agencies, making comparisons with previous years difficult. He also said the department had not released enough underlying data to independently verify the claims.
Similarly, the Center for Immigration Studies noted that the administration's figures appeared to blend several enforcement categories that have historically been reported separately, potentially overstating year-to-year changes.
While the group generally supports stricter immigration enforcement, it argued that clearer methodology is needed to assess whether deportations have reached record levels.
Beyond deportations, Mullin said the administration continues to expand the 287(g) program, complete additional border barriers and strengthen enforcement along both the southern and northern borders.
He also said DHS has not released any migrants apprehended at the southern border into the United States during the past 13 months, while acknowledging that agents continue to record a small number of people who evade capture.
