Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
How many us citizens deported by ice
Executive Summary
The available investigations and government reviews show that ICE has detained and in some cases deported U.S. citizens, but the true scope is uncertain because agencies do not consistently track citizenship errors; estimates range from dozens to more than a hundred detained and as many as 70 deported between 2015–2020. Independent reporting and audits published between 2021 and 2025 document systemic record-keeping, training, and oversight failures that produced wrongful arrests, detentions, and deportations of Americans [1] [2] [3].
1. A Troubling Count: How many Americans were swept up?
Investigations produce different numerical pictures depending on methodology and time period. ProPublica’s 2025 investigation identified more than 170 Americans held by immigration agents during raids and protests, documenting allegations of physical and emotional abuse and procedural failures in detentions [1]. Separately, a Government Accountability Office audit covering 2015–2020 found data showing 674 arrests of potential citizens, 121 detentions, and up to 70 deportations, while noting that deficient record-keeping likely undercounts the true number [3]. A Cato Institute review cited similar discrepancies and reported up to 70 citizens deported between 2015 and 2020, aligning with the GAO finding but framing it within broader critiques of enforcement policy [2]. These sources together indicate a documented baseline of dozens of wrongful removals and many more wrongful detentions, but they stop short of a definitive total because of inconsistent data practices.
2. Why the numbers diverge: databases, training, and definitions matter
The principal reason estimates differ is that agencies use different datasets, definitions, and quality controls. The GAO highlighted inconsistent training materials and faulty databases that allow front-line officers to act without sufficient supervision, producing errors where people claiming U.S. citizenship were sometimes processed anyway [3]. ProPublica found that DHS does not systematically track citizens detained by immigration agents and that internal oversight mechanisms have been weakened, contributing to undercounting and uninvestigated abuses [1]. DHS removal tallies and “repatriation” metrics reported in 2023–2024 focus on total removals and expulsions and do not disaggregate wrongful citizen deportations in public monthly tables without deeper dataset queries, obscuring citizen-specific mistakes in aggregate counts [4] [5]. These technical and definitional gaps explain much of the numerical divergence.
3. Where reporting and audits agree: systemic weaknesses and human stories
Across independent reporting and government audits there is consensus on systemic weaknesses: breakdowns in verification of claimed citizenship, racial and language profiling during sweeps, and inadequate oversight that allowed errors to proceed to removal in some cases. ProPublica’s 2025 reporting documented multiple instances where U.S. citizens were detained for days or mistreated despite presenting identification, while the GAO and nonprofit analyses linked these outcomes to database errors and inconsistent guidance to officers [1] [3] [2]. Leaders of civil liberties organizations have used these findings to press for stronger safeguards; at the same time, enforcement agencies point to operational complexity at borders and resource limitations when explaining mistakes. Both sets of sources corroborate that the problem exists and is driven by institutional failures rather than isolated clerical errors.
4. Disputes, agendas, and what each source emphasizes
Different sources emphasize different narratives that reflect institutional or advocacy perspectives. ProPublica foregrounds human rights abuses and racial profiling in detention sweeps and pushes for accountability and oversight reforms [1]. The GAO report takes a compliance and systems-audit lens, documenting numbers, policy gaps, and recommendations for DHS to fix training and data systems [3]. Think tanks like Cato frame the phenomenon within a critique of aggressive enforcement policies and political administrations that prioritized removals, using the deportation counts as evidence of policy harm [2]. Government operational data on overall removals and repatriations emphasize scale—millions of repatriations since 2021—without isolating citizen errors in headline summaries, which can be read as either bureaucratic omission or a focus on different policy metrics [4] [6].
5. What the evidence implies and what's still missing
The combined evidence shows clear, documented cases of U.S. citizens detained and deported by ICE, with conservative lower-bound estimates (dozens) and investigative reporting suggesting higher counts of wrongful detentions (100+). Major gaps remain: DHS and ICE do not publish a definitive, regularly audited total of citizen detentions and deportations; datasets require cross-checking and FOIA-level investigation to produce reliable totals [1] [3] [5]. The policy implication is straightforward: without consistent public tracking, independent oversight, and corrected training and database controls, the U.S. will continue to have undetected and preventable infringements on citizens’ rights, and the public cannot confidently assess the true scale of those harms [3] [1].