How many people were deported in 2025 in USA and have no criminal record, and how many of them were left alone at the border
Executive summary
ICE and DHS reporting and multiple news analyses show hundreds of thousands of removals in 2025, with a large share of those detained or deported lacking criminal convictions. For example, a Marshall Project analysis found "people with no criminal convictions at all make up two‑thirds of the more than 120,000 people deported between January and May" [1], and The Guardian reported that during the federal shutdown ICE arrested/detained about 54,000 people and deported roughly 56,000 — with "more than 21,000 people with no criminal record" among those arrested and detained [2].
1. What the public numbers say: record deportations and a big non‑criminal share
Multiple outlets and datasets published in 2025 document a surge in deportations and detentions and repeatedly note that many people removed had no criminal convictions. The Marshall Project’s analysis of ICE data reported two‑thirds of the roughly 120,000 deported Jan–May had no criminal convictions [1]. The Guardian’s tracking of ICE releases during a government shutdown shows roughly 56,000 deportations in that period and notes that "more than 21,000 people with no criminal record were arrested and detained" [2]. Independent compilations and research groups such as the Deportation Data Project and TRAC similarly found large shares of detainees without criminal convictions [3] [4].
2. How agencies count removals and why totals vary
There is no single, consistent "deportations in 2025" number in public reports because DHS and its components classify and publish removals, returns, voluntary departures and self‑deportations differently. DHS public statements have claimed hundreds of thousands of removals or that "2 million illegal aliens have been removed or have self‑deported" since January 20 [5] [6], while media reconstructions—using ICE removals tables and other sources—produce different tallies (for example, about 168,841 deportations Jan–Aug per El País and other outlets) [7]. Analysts warn that agencies sometimes fold voluntary departures and returns into broader "removed or self‑deported" claims, producing much larger headline totals [8].
3. The distinction: detained without criminal convictions vs. deported without convictions
Reporting separates two related facts: how many people in ICE or CBP custody lack criminal convictions, and how many deported lacked convictions. Multiple sources show the detained population has a high share with no convictions — TRAC and other trackers report around 70%–73% of ICE detainees had no criminal conviction in several snapshots in 2025 [4] [9]. Independent analyses show that among removals in early 2025 a substantial portion had no criminal convictions, e.g., Marshall Project’s finding that two‑thirds of deportees Jan–May had no convictions [1]. Exact national totals for "deported in 2025 with no criminal record" differ between datasets and are not consolidated in a single source provided here.
4. Border expulsions and the “left alone at the border” question
The phrase "left alone at the border" is not clearly defined in the available reporting; sources discuss expulsions, returns, and CBP processing but do not uniformly report a figure described as people "left alone." CBP’s public updates emphasize lower southwest border crossings and high rates of expulsions or returns in specific months (for example, CBP said the Border Patrol released "0 illegal aliens into our country" in May — a framing about release policies, not about being "left alone") [10]. Available sources do not mention a precise, nation‑wide count of people who were "left alone at the border" as that phrase suggests.
5. Competing narratives and political claims
DHS and White House messaging framed 2025 enforcement as targeting “the worst of the worst,” with DHS/ICE producing tallies of arrests and removals to show success [11] [6]. Independent media, advocacy groups and academic trackers report a different pattern: large increases in arrests and removals of people with no criminal convictions [3] [12]. Analysts and outlets flag that DHS combines different categories (removals, voluntary departures, returns) in public claims, which amplifies headline totals and complicates direct comparison [8].
6. Limits of current reporting and what can’t be said definitively
A precise, single national number for "people deported in 2025 who had no criminal record" and a separate number for those "left alone at the border" does not appear in the assembled sources. Some studies give shares (e.g., two‑thirds of deportees Jan–May had no convictions per Marshall Project) or snapshots of detainees (e.g., ~71–74% of detainees lacked convictions per TRAC/Migration Policy Project) [1] [9] [4]. Available sources do not mention a clean nationwide final tally that answers both parts of your question in one place; differences in agency definitions and reporting cadence explain much of the uncertainty [8].
If you want, I can attempt to synthesize a best‑estimate range by combining ICE removals totals with the published proportion estimates (caveating methodological limits and source differences).