The federal agency best known for processing green cards, work permits and citizenship applications says it has taken enforcement actions to revoke or terminate the immigration status of approximately 2.2 million people since President Donald Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, 2025.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the figure on Oct. 29, 2026, after first sharing it with The Daily Wire, and said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had carried out nearly seven times as many such actions as during the final two years of the Biden administration combined.
What the 2.2 million covers
According to DHS, the total spans five kinds of action: ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designations; denying requests to extend or change nonimmigrant status when the agency finds no legal basis; issuing Notices to Appear, which open removal cases before an immigration judge; ending the automatic extension of employment authorization documents; and terminating categorical parole programs in favor of case-by-case review.
The release did not break the number down by category or say whether one person could account for more than one action. The Daily Wire noted it was not clear whether all 2.2 million people had actually lost their status. DHS stressed that the count is separate from visa denials and revocations by the State Department and from deportations carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The Daily Wire reported that the TPS terminations target more than 1 million foreign nationals from 13 countries, with some still tied up in court, and that the parole cuts include the Biden-era program that let roughly 500,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans fly directly into the country. The work-permit change took effect Oct. 30, 2025: renewal applicants in affected categories who file on or after that date no longer receive the automatic extension of up to 540 days while their case is pending.
Mullin: 'Securing our border was only the beginning'
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who took over the department in March, framed the number as proof that the administration is moving beyond the border to the legal immigration system itself.
"President Trump promised the American people that our immigration laws would be enforced, and these numbers reflect the scale of that commitment," Mullin said in the release. "Those who abuse or flagrantly disregard our immigration system are now on notice that these violations of law will not be tolerated or overlooked. Securing our border was only the beginning."
The new total builds on figures USCIS released last December, when it said its officers had issued about 196,600 Notices to Appear and referred more than 14,400 people to ICE over fraud, national security and public safety concerns since Jan. 20, 2025, NTD reported. Separately, ICE reported roughly 421,182 deportations between October 2025 and Aug. 24, 2026, and the White House said earlier in October that more than 300,000 visas had been revoked, according to The Daily Wire.
A benefits agency with an enforcement mandate
The figures reflect a shift in how USCIS sees its job. Under a February 2025 policy, the agency stopped exempting whole categories of removable noncitizens from Notices to Appear after an unfavorable decision, and a rule that took effect in October 2025 allows designated USCIS personnel to investigate immigration violations, execute warrants and make certain arrests.
Immigration lawyers have pushed back. When the plan to arm some USCIS officers was announced in September 2025, American Immigration Lawyers Association President Jeff Joseph said the administration had "transformed USCIS into an enforcement agency," arguing that Congress built it after 9/11 to process legal applications and left enforcement to other agencies.
For applicants, a Notice to Appear starts a case in immigration court; it is not by itself a deportation order, and anyone who receives one, or a denial or termination notice, faces strict deadlines.
Photos: Tdorante10 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); The White House
