How many deportations occurred under the Biden administration by year (2021-2025)?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows roughly 1.1 million deportations (removals and returns) from the start of FY2021 through February 2024 under the Biden administration, and individual-year counts rising from a low in FY2021 to a peak in FY2024 (271,484 reported for FY2024) [1] [2]. Public agency datasets and news analyses report increases through 2024 but do not provide a full, consistent year-by-year 2021–2025 breakdown in the supplied material; sources do not mention complete FY2025 totals for the Biden years (available sources do not mention FY2025 totals).
1. How many deportations does “1.1 million” cover — and what it includes
When Migration Policy Center says “1.1 million deportations since the beginning of fiscal year (FY) 2021 through February 2024” it is combining removals and administrative returns across the Biden years up to the data cutoff [1]. That aggregate mixes formal deportations (removals under immigration law) and administrative returns/expulsions; the report explicitly separates “administrative returns” (more than 505,000 from FY2021 through February 2024) from other removals [1]. This matters because policy analysts and agencies sometimes count “removals,” “returns,” and Title 42 expulsions differently, creating different totals in different reports [1] [3].
2. Year-by-year pattern reported in open sources (limited but consistent trend)
Available sources describe a sharp dip in FY2021 followed by steady increases through FY2024. One dataset cited by The Global Statistics gives FY2021 at 59,011 deportations and FY2024 at 271,484, describing “a steady increase” across Biden’s term [2]. Migration Policy and news outlets describe the administration being “on pace” to match Trump-era totals with about 1.1 million removals/returns through Feb 2024, reflecting rising annual counts after 2021 [1] [4].
3. What reporters and analysts highlight about 2024 and comparison to Trump
Several outlets in late 2024–early 2025 reported that deportations under Biden had grown to equal or surpass prior Republican totals in some measures. BBC and Reuters reporting cite ICE and DHS figures, noting Biden’s administration expanded deportations after an initial pledge to pause them and that 2024 was the administration’s highest single-year total in some datasets [4] [5]. Migration Policy frames the 1.1 million through Feb 2024 as “on pace to match” Trump’s four-year total of 1.5 million removals [1].
4. Disputes over framing and what’s counted
Advocacy and policy groups dispute comparisons. The Center for Immigration Studies argued there were large decreases in deportations of “criminal aliens” under Biden versus Trump (citing percent drops), challenging headlines that Biden deported more people overall [6]. This disagreement illustrates two recurring debates: whether to focus on total removals/returns or on removals of people with criminal convictions, and whether “removals” include short-term border returns and Title 42 expulsions [6] [3].
5. Why precise year-by-year 2021–2025 counts are hard to give from these sources
The supplied materials include multi-year aggregates (1.1 million through Feb 2024), selected annual figures (e.g., FY2021 = 59,011 and FY2024 = 271,484 cited by one site), and news snapshots (monthly or short-window totals), but they do not present a single, authoritative table listing deportations for FY2021, FY2022, FY2023, FY2024 and FY2025 under Biden across the whole period requested. Migration Policy’s 1.1 million figure is the most direct aggregate for FY2021–Feb 2024 [1]; the Global Statistics item provides specific FY2021 and FY2024 numbers but is not a government primary source [2]. The ICE statistics page exists but the supplied snippets do not include a neat year-by-year table for 2021–2025 [3]. Therefore, a precise, fully sourced year-by-year breakdown 2021–2025 cannot be compiled from the provided reporting alone (available sources do not mention a complete, consistent year-by-year table for FY2021–FY2025 under Biden).
6. Bottom line and how to get a definitive tally
Based on the supplied reporting, the Biden years produced roughly 1.1 million removals and returns from FY2021 through February 2024, with yearly counts rising from a low in FY2021 (reported as ~59,011 in one compilation) to a reported FY2024 total of about 271,484 [1] [2]. For an exact, line-item year-by-year tally (FY2021, FY2022, FY2023, FY2024, FY2025) you should consult primary DHS/ICE datasets (ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations statistics and DHS annual reports) because the current reporting aggregates and interprets multiple categories differently and the supplied sources do not contain a single, authoritative year-by-year table (available sources do not mention a definitive year-by-year Biden 2021–2025 table).