Markwayne Mullin says Homeland Security aiming to double 2025 deportation numbers this year

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the Homeland Security Department is still rounding up scores of illegal immigrants in the U.S., and the department has a goal of doubling last year's total of deportations in the calendar year 2026.

Mullin's comments came during an interview on The Charlie Kirk Show in response to a question about whether Americans can expect deportation numbers to climb in 2027 as well. Mullin was cautious about predicting 2027 numbers, but said he's set a departmental goal of doubling last year's deportation numbers in 2026. "My goal is to double what we did last year," he said. 

According to numbers released earlier this year by the DHS, 675,000 illegal immigrants were deported in 2025, Trump's first year back in office. In addition, the department reported, another 2.2 million illegals self deported last year. If the DHS reaches the goal set forth by Mullin by the end of the year, about 1.3 million illegals will have been removed from the country, in addition to those who leave on their own. Mullin added that the job only gets harder for immigration enforcement officials as time goes on.

"Being successful also has a downside -- you get the low-hanging fruit accomplished and then you gotta go and really dig in and find the people that are deeply hiding," Mullin explained. "At some point the self-deportation numbers are going to start decreasing, and we are gonna have to go start rounding all these individuals up."

Mullin said the numbers may be on the rise during the first half of 2026, but "we're probably going to hit a plateau sometime early next year." 

Over the weekend, Mullin was grilled by CNN host Jake Tapper about the Supreme Court clearing the way for the U.S. to return nearly 350,000 Haitian migrants to Haiti. Tapper told Mullin, "I just looked at the State Department's website, and they have a level four do not travel advisory for Haiti just from a few months ago, from April, and it says violent crime is rampant. The expansion of gang organized crime and terrorist activity has led to widespread violence. Crimes involving firearms are common. Crimes include robbery, carjacking, sexual assault and kidnappings for ransom."

“That do not travel [advisory] is not for Haitians," Mullin explained to Tapper, throwing cold water on what the host thought would be a gotcha question. "That's 'do not travel' for the United States, because they are kidnapping or trying to kidnap individuals from the United States -- because they feel like their family has the money to pay the ransom.” 

Tapper continued to press Mullin on the rollback of the temporary deportation protections given by the Biden administration. Mullin responded, saying, "Temporary Protected Status was never intended to be permanent." Below, watch Mullin's comments on doubling deportations in 2026.