More than 2 million illegal immigrants residing in the United States have chosen to self-deport or been forcibly removed from the country since President Donald Trump took office, according to the government.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday morning that more than 400,000 illegal immigrants had been deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since late January.

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The DHS anticipates hitting 600,000 ICE deportations by Jan. 20, 2026. Trump had vowed to hit 1 million in that time.

An additional 1.6 million people chose to leave the U.S. rather than face arrest, detention, and deportation by the government.

“The numbers don’t lie: 2 million illegal aliens have been removed or self-deported in just 250 days — proving that President Trump’s policies and Secretary Noem’s leadership are working and making American communities safe,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

McLaughlin credited “ramped-up immigration enforcement” since Trump took office as having sent a message to illegal immigrants to leave the country voluntarily.

In mid-August, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said 1.6 million illegal immigrants had left the country. In the nearly six weeks since then, roughly 400,000 more people have departed voluntarily and involuntarily.

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The Washington Examiner reported in mid-September that immigration policy analysts anticipate that the Trump administration’s deportation operations are still in their infancy as it hires 10,000 more deportation officers and expands immigrant detention sites nationwide.

“DHS is just getting started thanks to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which is surging hiring efforts and turbocharging the arrests and deportations of illegal aliens,” the DHS’s Tuesday news release reads.