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Border czar Tom Homan signals record deportation push as enforcement in Florida hits historic highs

Story by Danielle Shockey
• 52m • 3 min read



Border Czar Tom Homan© Tampa Free Press

White House border czar Tom Homan told a crowd in South Florida this week that federal immigration authorities are moving people out of the country at unprecedented rates, pointing to nearly 200,000 interior arrests over a four-month period.
Speaking Thursday at the America First Policy Institute’s Hispanic Leadership Conference at Trump National Doral Miami, Homan delivered a direct message about the administration’s trajectory.

“Mass deportation is happening,” Homan told attendees. “Wait until you see what we do next year.”
During his appearance and in a follow-up interview with CBS, Homan asserted that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted nearly 200,000 interior arrests between June and September 2026.
While ICE has not yet published an official federal dataset verifying that four-month total, earlier Department of Homeland Security records show steady increases throughout the summer. Confirmed arrest counts reached 43,900 in June, 50,208 in July, and 50,925 in August.

Border Czar

Tom Homan speaks to reporters outside the White House.© Tampa Free Press

Homan also stated that September could set a 23-year record for monthly deportations, though arrests do not always translate immediately into removals. “We are removing and arresting more people right now than we ever have in the history of this nation,” he told the audience.

Related video: This video shows what happens when a government orders American mass deportation (Extra History)

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The operational focus has landed heavily on South Florida. ICE’s Miami field office, which covers Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, logged more than 41,300 arrests between the start of the administration and early spring, making it the most active field office in the country. In July, the Miami office recorded over 7,500 arrests.

Border Czar Tom

Homan© Tampa Free Press

The speech took place in Doral, a Miami suburb where roughly 40 percent of residents are of Venezuelan heritage and foreign-born residents make up about 70 percent of the population. In the 2024 presidential election, voters in Doral cast approximately 60 percent of their ballots for Donald Trump.

Figures show enforcement activity has grown in the municipality. According to the Miami Herald, local arrests climbed from three in December 2025 to 17 by July 2026. Doral’s city council authorized a 287(g) agreement with ICE in April 2025, which permits municipal officers to coordinate with federal immigration authorities, before formalizing a task force model in January 2026. Mayor Christi Fraga said the city acted under state pressure, noting that municipal police do not direct raids or notify the public in advance about federal operations.
The push has also run into logistical barriers with neighboring countries. Between October 2025 and June 2026, immigration judges in Florida issued deportation orders for more than 4,000 Cuban nationals, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse data. However, because the Cuban government frequently declines repatriation flights, documented cases in 2026 show some individuals being redirected to third nations such as Liberia and Equatorial Guinea following routine ICE check-ins.
The pace of enforcement has drawn public reaction from South Florida’s Republican congressional delegation.

Maria Elvira Salazar© Tampa Free Press



Representative Mario Díaz-Balart told Telemundo that the administration’s approach “has been excessive,” while Representative María Elvira Salazar stated in campaign advertisements that enforcement actions have gone “too far.” In response to shifting protected statuses, the Coalition of Venezuelan Societies in the United States prepared a formal letter to Díaz-Balart requesting targeted immigration relief for Venezuelan nationals.

Federal totals for September remain pending, but confirming Homan’s claims would place the administration’s annual deportation figures near the single-year record of 409,000 removals established in fiscal year 2012 under the Obama administration.

READ: Op-Ed: Don’t Cry Over Deportations You Made Inevitable
The operational focus has landed heavily on South Florida. ICE’s Miami field office, which covers Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, logged more than 41,300 arrests between the start of the administration and early spring, making it the most active field office in the country. In July, the Miami office recorded over 7,500 arrests.

Border czar Tom Homan signals record deportation push as enforcement in Florida hits historic highs