ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has been busy, deporting over 270,000 people to 192 countries in just 12 months—its highest tally in a decade. And yet, President-elect Donald Trump is walking into a logistical nightmare if he plans to turn his campaign promise of mass deportations into reality. Spoiler alert: ICE can only stretch so far, and there’s a whole lot of stretching happening.

With 271,484 deportations in fiscal 2024, nearly double the previous year’s paltry 142,580, ICE proved it can ramp things up when necessary. This is its best deportation streak since 2014 when the agency removed 315,943 people. Even under Trump’s first term, ICE didn’t top 267,258 in 2019. Guess the Biden administration finally found the “go” button—at least for something.

What’s behind this sudden efficiency? Weekend flights, streamlined procedures, and a no-nonsense approach to sending people back to Central America, especially Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Oh, and ICE got creative, organizing flights to places like China (for the first time in six years), Egypt, and Tajikistan. No corner of the globe is safe.

Meanwhile, over at Customs and Border Protection (CBP), arrests for illegal border crossings plummeted in November to 46,612. That’s an 18% drop from October and an 80% crash from the December 2023 peak of 250,000. Why the drop? Partly because Mexico finally decided to play hall monitor, ramping up its own enforcement, and partly because of Biden’s asylum restrictions, which were rolled out in June. Yes, the same administration that promised a warm welcome is now slamming the door shut.

Mexico still leads as the top destination for deportees (87,298), with Guatemala (66,435) and Honduras (45,923) trailing behind. Central America remains the easiest target since those governments actually take their citizens back, unlike some countries that act like their deportees are a bad Amazon return.

Still, ICE’s plate is overflowing. Despite its 6,000 officers holding steady for a decade, the agency’s caseload has ballooned to a staggering 7.6 million. That’s nearly 2 million more than last year. And with detention space capped at 37,700 people daily, ICE is stuck juggling resources like a circus act. Texas, always ready to help, is offering up rural land for staging areas.

Bottom line: ICE is doing its best with what it has, but if Trump wants to fulfill his mass deportation promises, he’ll need more than campaign slogans. Try a bigger budget and more officers. Until then, it’s just another episode of “Border Security: The Limited Edition.”