How many illegal immigrants were deported by
Executive summary
Official and media tallies put the number of people formally removed from the United States during President Trump’s first year back in office in the low-to-mid hundreds of thousands, but competing counts and DHS claims produce a range from roughly 230,000 interior removals plus 270,000 border removals (about 500,000) to DHS statements claiming more than 600,000 formal deportations, all amid additional millions of "self-deportations" that advocacy groups call inflated—leaving a precise, single figure unobtainable from the public record [1] [2] [3] [4] enforcement-distorting-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">[5].
1. The headline numbers: media analysis versus DHS claims
The New York Times’ analysis of federal data reports that about 230,000 people were deported after arrests inside the country and roughly 270,000 were deported at the border—totaling about 500,000 removals in the first year of the administration [1]. By contrast, multiple DHS press releases have touted larger totals—saying more than 527,000 deportations in one release and claiming over 605,000 deportations in another—figures presented alongside counts of millions “leaving” the country that mix formal removals with voluntary departures [2] [3]. Reuters reported an aggregate figure of roughly 622,000 removals since Trump took office, citing administration officials and DHS messaging [4].
2. Why the numbers diverge: different definitions and counting methods
The gap exists because news organizations and researchers typically count formal removals using agency data and clarify whether the person was apprehended at the border or in the interior, while DHS public statements conflate “deportations,” “removals,” and voluntary self-deportations or departures to create larger toplines for public consumption [1] [2] [6]. Independent analysts warn that DHS’s large “self-deported” totals include many people who left through administrative processes or nonremoval departures that are not the same as a formal removal order [5].
3. The role of voluntary departures and the “2 million” narrative
DHS repeatedly promoted milestones like “2 million” or “2.5 million” illegal aliens who have “left” the United States since January, a figure that mixes voluntary self-deportations and formal removals and has been challenged as misleading by researchers and watchdogs who say the self-deportation totals are inflated or extrapolated [6] [3] [5]. Brookings and other policy shops try to separate forced removals from voluntary exits and estimate that enforcement and deterrence produced hundreds of thousands of voluntary departures beyond baseline expectations—Brookings estimates 210,000 to 405,000 such departures in 2025 and allows for higher numbers if removals continue to rise [7].
4. Capacity and policy context: why the 1 million promise was unlikely
Observers from Migration Policy Institute and reporting from Reuters note that despite intensified enforcement, detention capacity, staffing increases, and new local partnerships, overall removals remained well below the campaign pledge of 1 million per year—reaching hundreds of thousands rather than millions—because scaling formal deportations rapidly requires expanded detention, court processing, and logistics that were not fully realized [8] [9] [4]. DHS documents and statements touting record enforcement also describe expanded hiring, task force agreements, and rising daily detention averages, which help explain upticks in removals while also underlining the practical limits of achieving a million formal removals in a year [8] [10].
5. What the public record cannot resolve
Publicly available reporting and agency releases do not yield a single uncontestable count because DHS mixes categories in its public messaging, some internal datasets are incomplete or delayed, and independent researchers use different methodologies; therefore it is not possible from the provided sources to produce one definitive “how many deported” number without choosing which counting method to privilege [2] [1] [5]. Where media analyses and independent totals differ, the responsible conclusion is to present the range and explain the methodological reasons for divergence rather than to assert a single, unquestionable total [1] [3] [5].
6. Bottom line
Using conservative, data-driven media analysis yields roughly half a million formal removals in the administration’s first year (about 230,000 interior and 270,000 border removals), while DHS public statements claim larger totals—ranging from roughly 527,000 to over 600,000 deportations—and add millions of voluntary departures to reach multi‑million “left the U.S.” headlines; both sets of figures are factual under different definitions, but the disagreement reflects choices about which departures count as formal deportations and how voluntary exits are reported [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].