The government’s deportation force made more than 20,000 arrests in a single month, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Wednesday.

She said that’s a 627% increase at this pace compared with the Biden administration, under which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made just 33,000 at-large arrests all of last year.

“President Trump and this administration are saving lives every day because of the actions we are taking to secure the border and deport illegal alien criminals. Hundreds of thousands of criminals were let into this country illegally. We are sending them home, and they will never be allowed to return,” Ms. Noem said.

Ms. Noem didn’t explicitly say the 20,000 arrests were all ICE interior at-large arrests, but she drew the parallel, suggesting that was the comparison she was making.

Under the Biden administration, ICE recorded 33,342 at-large arrests in fiscal year 2024. That was down significantly from 2023, when ICE tallied 91,497 at-large arrests.

At 20,000 a month now, ICE would be on track for an annual pace of roughly 240,000 arrests, shattering previous records.

About 45% of the 2024 at-large arrests had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.

Ms. Noem didn’t disclose the ratio of criminals in the new data she reported.

Releasing the arrest numbers could be designed to reassure Mr. Trump, who has reportedly been dismayed by lower-than-expected deportation numbers so far.

Mexico said last week that deportations to its territory are down compared to the final year under President Biden.

Part of that lower figure is due to Mr. Trump’s success in sealing the U.S border.

In addition to interior arrests, ICE is responsible for deporting new border arrivals that don’t earn catch-and-release. Fewer crossers means fewer people to deport from the border.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.