“Under an updated policy confirming USCIS’ role as an immigration enforcement agency, the agency’s officers are once again empowered to enforce immigration law by issuing Notices to Appear,” it said.
USCIS also referred more than 14,400 immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to fraud, national security, and public safety concerns. This includes 182 aliens who are “confirmed or suspected to be national security risks,” according to the statement.
Under DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, USCIS has been “actively collaborating with other agencies on immigration enforcement and public safety efforts, resulting in over 2,400 arrests at USCIS field offices since Jan. 20,” USCIS said.
USCIS noted that there have been more fraud referrals to law enforcement during the current administration than in the entirety of the prior Biden administration.
Since Jan. 20, USCIS officers have made more than 29,000 fraud referrals to the agency’s Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) Directorate. Of these, FDNS has completed investigations into more than 19,300 cases, identifying fraud in 65 percent of them.
In addition, FDNS has completed more than 6,500 site visits and conducted more than 19,500 social media checks on immigrants’ online posts to assess potential security and fraud issues, USCIS said.
In addition to deportation and referrals to law enforcement, USCIS’s immigration actions include voter verification and the disbursement of federal benefits.
The agency completed more than 48 million voter verifications this year under agreements with 24 states as part of “protecting elections and combating voter fraud,” according to the infographic.
The DHS also conducted more than 206 million eligibility checks for federal agencies overseeing public benefits, helping in “preserving public benefits” for Americans.
To combat fraud and threats, USCIS is recruiting “Homeland Defenders,” with more than 50,000 applications already received, it said, adding that the first defenders reported for duty this month.
While the Trump administration has intensified its immigration crackdown, certain lawmakers have introduced bills to ease citizenship pathways for noncitizens.
These people have “built their lives here, and are American in every way except for their immigration status,” it said.
“The Dream Act of 2025 would allow these young people to earn lawful permanent residence and eventually American citizenship.”
More than 2.5 million illegal immigrants have left the United States amid the administration’s crackdown. This includes more than 622,000 deportations and around 1.9 million self-deportations.
Border crossings are down 93 percent year over year, DHS said, adding that between May and November, the Border Patrol released zero illegal immigrants into the country for seven straight months.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are making America safe again and putting the American people first. In record-time we have secured the border, taken the fight to cartels, and arrested thousands upon thousands of criminal illegal aliens,” Noem said.