ICE tracking 1.6 million illegal aliens with deportation orders, chief says
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons announced that there are approximately 1.6 million illegal aliens in the United States with final deportation orders, and half of them have criminal convictions.
In testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday, Lyons said: “What we’re tracking right now is about 1.6 million final [deportation] “Approximately 800,000 people in the United States have criminal convictions.”
Lyons clarified that these deportation orders were not issued by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security. Instead, Lyons said, the orders came “through an immigration judge at the Department of Justice, separate from Immigration Customs Enforcement.”
“There are 16,840 final orders released in the state of Minnesota,” the director added.
DEPUTY ICE DIRECTOR DEFENDS THE AGENCY’S FOCUS ON TARGETING ILLEGAL ALIENS, DETAILED THREATS TO AGENTS
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Acting Director Todd Lyons testifies at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on February 10, 2026. Lawmakers pressed Lyons on immigration enforcement tactics, body camera use and accountability following recent events in Minnesota. (Samuel Çorum/Getty Images)
Lyons revealed this during questioning from Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla. Lankford asked Lyons to express his gratitude to the men and women of immigration enforcement, commenting: “Two years ago, 10,000 people a day were entering the country illegally, two years ago 10,000 people a day were not being screened and had no idea who they were.”
Lankford also pointed out that “70,000 aliens of special interest with spatial ties to terrorism are estimated by the Biden administration to arrive in 2024.”
“But we had no idea who they were. They had been allowed into the country two years ago,” he lamented.
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A U.S. Border Patrol agent monitors more than 2,000 immigrants at a field processing center in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 18, 2023. (John Moore/Getty Images)
This comes as ICE faces intense criticism from Democrats over its operations, particularly in Minnesota, where two activists, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed while arguing with federal authorities. Democrats have threatened to cut funding to DHS unless the agency changes its approach to enforcement.
“We’re losing perspective on what actually happened,” Lankford said.
“The work of the men and women working around you has stopped this chaos,” Lankford told Lyons.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents made an arrest on January 26, 2025, in Chicago, Illinois. (Report via Immigration and Customs Enforcement/REUTERS)
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“There are thousands of arrests a day, by the book,” he continued. “And what happens is you have a group of protesters protesting and agitating, and some of them run into churches and disrupt church services and say, ‘It is my First Amendment right to close your church during the service.’ Saying they are a peaceful protester while throwing rocks at agents is getting old.”
