The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says Immigration and Customs Enforcement is removing nearly 1,500 people a day, a pace not recorded since the Obama administration. The stepped-up activity brought total deportations this year to about 332,000 as of mid-August. At the current tempo, removals are on track to reach roughly 400,000 by year-end—well shy of ICE’s publicly stated goal of 1 million—but sharply above the rate earlier in the summer, when arrests and detentions lagged. Congress has moved to sustain the acceleration, approving $76.5 billion in additional funding for ICE this summer—almost ten times the agency’s annual budget. About $30 billion is earmarked for staffing. Acting Director Todd Lyons said ICE plans to add 10,000 deportation officers to its existing 6,500 by December, aided by hiring bonuses of up to $50,000 and an expedited eight-week training program at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, Georgia. While removals rise, daily immigration arrests have slipped to under 1,000, and U.S. border encounters fell 93 percent year-on-year to 7,800 in July, according to separate DHS data. ICE officials say the agency is adapting tactics to anticipated resistance, outfitting new agents with gas masks and helmets and expanding Special Response Teams for high-risk warrants as the Trump administration pursues its pledge to intensify immigration enforcement.