2M illegal immigrants left US since January due to Trump administration's crackdown

• DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin says stepped-up enforcement 'sending a clear message' to those in US illegally

ISTANBUL

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Tuesday that more than 2 million illegal immigrants have left the US since Jan. 20, marking what officials called a historic milestone in President Donald Trump’s renewed crackdown on illegal immigration.

According to a DHS press release, the total includes about 1.6 million voluntary self-deportations and over 400,000 formal deportations in less than 250 days. The agency said it is on pace to deport nearly 600,000 people by the end of Trump’s first year back in office.

“The numbers don’t lie: 2 million illegal aliens have been removed or self-deported in just 250 days -- proving that President Trump’s policies and Secretary Noem’s leadership are working and making American communities safe,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

“Ramped-up immigration enforcement targeting the worst of the worst is removing more and more criminal illegal aliens off our streets every day and is sending a clear message to anyone else in this country illegally: Self-deport or we will arrest and deport you.”

DHS said that for four consecutive months, US Customs and Border Protection has released zero illegal entrants, citing a UN study that shows a 97% drop in northbound migration from Central America since Trump's policies went into effect.

Nearly half of the would-be migrants surveyed abandoned their plans because they believed "it would be impossible to enter the US under President Trump," according to the agency.

The department credited Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" with accelerating hiring at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which said it had received more than 150,000 job applications in recent weeks, as well as expanding detention capacity through new agreements in 40 states.

DHS emphasized that “the era of open borders is over,” pledging continued expansion of arrests and deportations as enforcement operations intensify.