What are the historical annual removal totals for ICE and CBP since 2018, by fiscal year?
Executive summary
Available public reporting shows that DHS removal activity since FY2018 has been tracked across multiple DHS components (ICE and CBP) and summarized in agency reports and OHSS compilations, but open-source summaries in the provided reporting do not contain a single, explicit table of yearly removal totals by agency for every fiscal year 2018–2023; researchers must stitch figures together from ICE annual reports, the ICE statistics portal, and DHS/OHSS data releases [1] [2] [3]. The only clear aggregated figure in these materials for FY2018 is the combined CBP+ICE removals total of 337,287; ICE’s internal reports and DHS monthly tables contain charts and split tables but the snippets provided here do not reproduce complete year-by-year agency totals for every fiscal year [4] [3].
1. What the question really asks and how the sources answer it
The user seeks year-by-year removal totals attributed to ICE and to CBP for each fiscal year beginning with FY2018; DHS distributes removals and returns data across component reports (ICE ERO reports, CBP encounter reports) and OHSS annual flow and monthly tables, so producing an authoritative year-by-year split requires extracting numbers from ICE’s statistics pages, ICE annual reports, and DHS/OHSS data files rather than relying on press narratives [1] [2] [5].
2. The single concrete, attributable headline number available for FY2018
A reliable DHS summary cited by Pew reports that CBP and ICE together carried out 337,287 removals in fiscal 2018, a 17 percent increase from FY2017; that combined total is explicitly stated in the reporting provided here [4].
3. ICE’s internal reporting and the difficulty of isolating ICE-only yearly totals from snippets
ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations annual and end‑of‑year reports include figures and charts labeled “ICE Removals” for FY2018–FY2023 and note trends (for example, ICE reported 220,649 removals in FY2017 when adjusting for lag), but the excerpts here do not quote every FY2018–FY2023 value in numeric table form, and ICE’s online statistics portal is the canonical source for locked fiscal-year totals once the data are finalized [6] [1] [3].
4. CBP data, OHSS compilation and why combined vs. component totals diverge
CBP’s encounters and Title 42 expulsions are reported separately and OHSS produces “Immigration Enforcement Actions” flow reports that reconcile CBP and ICE records; because CBP executes many immediate returns/expulsions at the border and ICE carries out interior removals and many repatriations once cases are transferred, DHS-wide totals (CBP+ICE) differ from agency-attributed removals and require consulting the OHSS or component monthly tables to split by arresting/returning agency [2] [5].
5. What can be said confidently from the available reporting and where the gaps remain
From the supplied materials: DHS-level combined removals for FY2018 are 337,287 [4]; ICE’s reports include FY2018–FY2023 charts and note earlier benchmarks such as 220,649 removals in FY2017 after lag adjustments [6] [3]; ICE’s public statistics page and OHSS monthly tables are cited by the agencies as the authoritative, ‘locked’ sources for final fiscal-year totals [1] [5]. However, the specific numeric annual totals for ICE-only and CBP-only removals for every fiscal year 2018–2023 are not fully reproduced in the snippets provided here, so this account cannot responsibly present a complete year-by-year table without consulting the primary DHS downloadable datasets or the ICE statistics pages referenced above [1] [5].
6. Interpretation, competing narratives and hidden incentives
Advocacy groups, think tanks and agency press releases highlight different metrics—total removals, removals by arresting agency, or criminality of removed persons—to advance policy positions; ICE reports emphasize enforcement and criminal removals, while CBP and OHSS data emphasize encounters and expulsions, which can shift attribution of “deportation” counts between agencies and understate cross‑agency transfers—readers should consult the ICE statistics page and OHSS monthly/annual tables to verify agency-attributed yearly totals [1] [2].