Where can I find ICE or DHS official monthly removal statistics for 2025?
Executive summary
Official monthly removal statistics for 2025 are published by DHS and ICE on government portals, with the Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS) producing detailed monthly tables and ICE posting Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) statistics; independent projects such as the Deportation Data Project and TRAC compile and republish ICE releases but note gaps and inconsistencies in the 2025 removals tables [1] [2] [3] [4]. Because DHS has at times delayed or selectively released detailed ICE tables in 2025, researchers should consult both the primary DHS/ICE pages and trusted secondary aggregators for context and missing items [5] [3].
1. Where the government publishes monthly removals: ICE’s statistics page and ERO reports
The primary official source is ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations statistics page, which posts arrests, removals, detention and alternatives-to-detention statistics for public use and is the agency’s portal for ERO counts and periodic year-end statistics [2] [6]. For monthly removal counts specifically, ICE’s statistics/ERO pages and associated “FY 2025 ICE Statistics” or “FY 2026 ICE Statistics” postings are the first place to look because they are ICE’s own releases of enforcement numbers [6] [2].
2. Where DHS compiles those numbers into monthly tables: OHSS Monthly Tables
DHS’s Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS) operates an “Immigration Enforcement and Legal Processes Monthly Tables” series that the agency describes as its immigration statistical system of record, built from operational reports and updated monthly (published on the third Thursday of each month, per the OHSS description) and includes ICE ERO Removals and Returns by citizenship, criminality and arresting agency [1]. OHSS explicitly states it constructs the Persist Dataset from DHS operational agencies’ monthly reports and that it updates its monthly tables; that is where DHS-level monthly removal tables should appear [1].
3. Practical reality in 2025: gaps and selective releases
Despite those official outlets, 2025 saw incomplete or delayed public releases: analysts and think tanks report that DHS and ICE have at times not released full detailed tables since early 2025, creating gaps that make month‑by‑month reconstruction harder and prompting outside groups to estimate totals [5]. The Deportation Data Project republishes ICE’s original datasets and offers processed tools, but notes that some releases through October 2025 “do not include a table tracking removals or encounters” because of potential data errors, meaning a user relying only on that mirror may find removals tables absent [3].
4. Secondary sources and trackers when official tables are missing
When official monthly tables are delayed or partial, independent compilers such as TRAC, the Migration Policy Institute, Human Rights First’s ICE Flight Monitor, and journalistic databases have generated monthly and fiscal-year estimates and flight/removal tracking that supplement the government releases; these groups have produced FY 2025 estimates and flagged inconsistencies in public releases [4] [5] [7]. These secondary sources are useful for interim totals but are not substitutes for the official OHSS/ICE tables; they should be used to triangulate gaps and for historical context when DHS/ICE pages lack a month-by-month removals table [4] [5] [7].
5. How to find and verify the monthly removal statistics for 2025 right now
Start at ICE’s statistics pages (ICE.gov/statistics) for any ERO monthly postings and the agency’s FY statistics documents [2] [6], then consult the OHSS “Immigration Enforcement and Legal Processes Monthly Tables” page for the formal DHS monthly tables and the Persist Dataset [1]. If a removals table is not present or appears incomplete, check the Deportation Data Project for ICE-origin downloads and notes about missing removals tables [3], and consult TRAC or MPI reports for reconciled totals and explanations of data gaps [4] [5]. Where the official files are missing or flagged, expect data quality notes from OHSS and ICE about revisions and delayed reporting [8] [1].
6. Caveats, transparency signals, and next steps for researchers
Users should watch for OHSS’s routine data-quality caveats—previous months can change as records mature—and for ICE’s two‑week detention snapshots and periodic year‑end summaries that may not align exactly with OHSS monthly tables [8] [6]. If precise monthly removals remain unavailable on the OHSS or ICE pages, filing a targeted FOIA request or contacting OHSS/ICE statistical officials (noting that OHSS says it works with component statistical officials) is a reasonable next step; meanwhile, use independent trackers only as provisional estimates and document their methodology differences when citing numbers [1] [3] [4].