How many U.S. citizens were deported in 2025 and by which agencies?
Executive summary
Available reporting and government releases do not provide a single, definitive count of how many U.S. citizens were deported in 2025; multiple outlets and watchdogs say the federal government does not track citizens who are detained or deported and document individual cases of U.S. citizens detained or nearly deported [1]. Independent estimates put total deportations of noncitizens in 2025 at roughly 340,000 by ICE for FY2025 and larger combined removal figures cited by DHS press releases—while credible reporting and advocates warn of wrongful detentions of citizens [2] [3] [1].
1. What the official numbers cover — and what they don’t
Federal enforcement statistics and DHS/ICE reports focus on arrests and removals of non‑citizens; ICE’s public statistics track “removals” and related detention metrics but do not provide a clear public count of U.S. citizens deported in 2025 [3]. Multiple news outlets and watchdog groups report that the U.S. government was not tracking how many citizens were detained or removed as of late 2025, leaving a gap between aggregate removal figures and accountability for possible wrongful citizen deportations [1].
2. How many removals happened in 2025 — the immigrant totals
Analysts and NGOs estimate large numbers of removals overall in 2025: the Migration Policy Institute estimated ICE conducted about 340,000 deportations in FY2025 (counting formal orders and voluntary departures) and several news reports and DHS releases describe hundreds of thousands of removals and self‑deports across agencies [2] [4] [5]. Stateline and others corroborate the “about 340,000” figure for FY2025 removals and note DHS projections for higher calendar‑year totals when CBP and ICE removals are combined [6].
3. Which agencies carry out deportations
The two principal federal agencies involved are U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which conducts interior arrests, detentions and removals, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which oversees border apprehensions and removals at or near ports of entry; DHS as an umbrella department issues public tallies and policy statements [3] [5] [4]. News reporting and policy analyses note coordination across DHS components and increased reliance on interior ICE enforcement during 2025 [2].
4. Evidence and reporting about U.S. citizens being detained or nearly deported
Investigations and civil‑liberty groups documented multiple incidents in 2025 where U.S. citizens were detained or at risk of deportation; ProPublica, ACLU filings and compilations cited specific cases and raised alarms about errors and the absence of a governmentwide tracking mechanism for citizen detentions [1]. The American Immigration Council and other advocates reported that some citizens were “directly targeted and detained” and that official records show troubling errors [1].
5. Conflicting messages from DHS and independent analysts
DHS releases in 2025 celebrated large removal and self‑deportation totals—announcing milestones like “over 2 million” removed or self‑deported since January in later DHS messaging—while independent analysts and journalists cautioned that DHS’s aggregation methods and use of voluntary departure/self‑deportation figures can obscure meaningful distinctions and raise transparency questions [7] [5] [4]. Critics point out that some DHS figures rely on outside studies and are contested by demographers and policy researchers [8].
6. Legal and judicial pushback matters to the count
Federal courts limited some rapid‑removal policies in late‑2025 and blocked or narrowed expansion of expedited deportation procedures, a development that affects how many people can be summarily removed and how reliably agencies can claim large removal totals without court review [9]. Reporting also documents hundreds of judges ordering release or bond hearings that undercut blanket detention policies—these legal fights affect both how removals are executed and how errors (including wrongful detention of citizens) are remedied [10].
7. What’s missing, and why that matters
Available sources confirm that the government does not publicly track a tally of U.S. citizens who were deported or detained by immigration authorities in 2025; the result is that aggregate deportation counts (hundreds of thousands) tell nothing about wrongful citizen cases, administrative errors, or demographic impacts on U.S. communities [1] [2]. Civil‑liberty groups and reporters emphasize that without a formal tracking and transparent auditing mechanism, claims of scale can mask serious human‑rights and constitutional errors [1] [11].
Conclusion: the public record shows large numbers of removals by ICE and CBP in 2025—MPI’s estimate of about 340,000 ICE deportations in FY2025 and DHS statements of hundreds of thousands or more removals—but available reporting and government data do not provide a confirmed count of U.S. citizens deported in 2025 and show that the government was not tracking that figure [2] [3] [1]. Alternative viewpoints exist between DHS’s aggregate milestone messaging and watchdogs/journalists who argue the numbers, methods and transparency are insufficient [4] [8].