ISTANBUL

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is holding more than 65,000 migrants, marking a record high for the agency, according to a report by The Washington Times.

Arrests and deportations are also at historic levels, with ICE averaging nearly 1,200 arrests and more than 1,250 deportations per day since Oct. 1. “They need to ramp it up,” said Rosemary Jenks, policy director at the Immigration Accountability Project, the daily reported.

“There’s a big population that should be easier to remove, and we need to get to those and remove them. Americans are willing to support mass deportation, but it has to be mass deportation.”

ICE’s surge comes as part of the fiscal year update following delays caused by the government shutdown. From Oct. 1 to Nov. 15, ICE recorded 54,735 book-ins, while Customs and Border Protection logged 7,066.

Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin highlighted the department’s expanded detention capacity.

“With innovative partnerships like Alligator Alcatraz, Speedway Slammer, Louisiana Lockup and Cornhusker Clink, we’ve significantly expanded detention space,” she said.

ICE reports that fewer than 60% of detainees now have criminal convictions, a decline from previous years. Jenks argued that the distinction is irrelevant. “I couldn’t care less how many of them have committed extra crimes. We need to deport all of them,” she said.

The administration aims to reach 1 million removals annually, with McLaughlin noting that an estimated 1.6 million undocumented immigrants have returned home voluntarily.

Despite criticism from immigrant rights groups, a Harvard CAPS-Harris survey shows that 54% of Americans support deporting all undocumented immigrants, rising to 79% for those with criminal records.