How many removals did ICE report for FY2024 and FY2025, and how do agencies define 'deportation' vs 'removal'?
Executive summary
ICE reported roughly 271,484 removals (often reported as “deportations”) for FY2024 in multiple analyses and agency-adjacent reports [1] [2]. Public analysts and data projects estimate FY2025 removals rose substantially—MPI and related analysts put FY2025 removals/deportations in the range of roughly 340,000 (MPI estimate) to other trackers showing large cumulative increases, but figures vary across releases and some ICE tables were revised or omitted because of data problems [3] [4] [5].
1. The headline numbers: FY2024 — where 271,484 comes from
Multiple independent trackers and analysts cite a total of about 271,484 ICE removals (labelled “deportations” in reporting) during fiscal year 2024; one review of ICE’s own semi‑monthly and annual reporting surfaces that figure and uses it as a baseline for year‑over‑year comparisons [1] [2]. Migration Policy Institute reporting likewise identifies very large ICE removal totals in FY2024 and documents a major shift in the source of many removals toward individuals first encountered at the border [2] [6].
2. FY2025: big increases, but inconsistent tallies and competing estimates
For FY2025 the picture is fragmented. The Migration Policy Institute estimated about 340,000 deportations for FY2025, a substantial rise from FY2024 [3]. Other real‑time trackers and projects show steep cumulative increases early in the fiscal year, but ICE’s own public removals files were revised and at times withheld because of suspected data errors — for example, the Deportation Data Project recommends using ICE’s “late July” removals dataset after finding the earlier June file omitted large numbers and mistakenly included some expedited removals [4] [5]. That makes month‑to‑month reconciliation difficult without relying on corrected or third‑party aggregations [4].
3. Why official counts diverge: dataset revisions and scope differences
ICE warns that its dashboards “fluctuate until ‘locked’ at the conclusion of the fiscal year,” and the agency has multiple tables (semi‑monthly, quarterly, annual) that may differ in coverage; independent researchers have found the June 2025 releases excluded many FY2024 observations and included some expedited or voluntary returns inconsistently, prompting reissuance and caution [7] [4]. The Deportation Data Project explicitly flagged more than 170,000 missing FY2024 removals in an early June file and over 40,000 higher removals in the late‑July FY2025 file compared with the June release — recommending the late‑July file as more plausible [4].
4. Definitions matter: legal shift from “deportation” to “removal”
U.S. law replaced the older “deportation” and “exclusion” framework with a unified “removal” proceeding beginning in the late 1990s; the Executive Office for Immigration Review explains deportation/exclusion proceedings were replaced by removal proceedings beginning April 1, 1997 [8]. Practically, many journalists and advocates still use “deportation” colloquially, but the statutory term and administrative processes are framed as “removal.” Analysts and legal guides reiterate that “removal” covers both earlier concepts and different mechanisms (regular removal proceedings, expedited removal, reinstatement of removal) [9] [10].
5. Operational difference: what ICE counts as a removal
ICE’s public materials and annual report clarify that ICE removals include some—but not all—people processed through expedited removal or voluntary return pathways: ICE counts noncitizens processed for expedited removal or voluntary return only if they were turned over to ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) for detention; many expedited removals not detained by ERO are processed by CBP and may not appear in ICE’s removals totals [11] [7]. That operational delineation explains part of the discrepancy between DHS‑wide “deportation” figures and ICE’s ERO removals tables [11] [6].
6. Competing perspectives and hidden incentives in the data
Advocates, think tanks and ICE itself present competing narratives: ICE and pro‑enforcement outlets emphasize rising removal counts as proof of enforcement rigor [12], while academic and civil‑society analysts highlight methodological problems, dataset revisions, and the fact that many removals originate from border encounters processed by CBP rather than interior arrests by ICE [4] [2]. The Deportation Data Project’s recommendation to prefer a corrected late‑July file points to an implicit incentive for researchers to triangulate across sources rather than accept any single ICE release uncritically [4] [5].
7. What’s reliably known — and what isn’t in the public record
Available sources consistently report a large FY2024 total (~271,484) and analysts document a substantially larger FY2025 tally (MPI’s ~340,000 estimate), but exact reconciled ICE removals for FY2025 are not uniformly published because of revisions and differing inclusion rules for expedited or voluntary returns [1] [3] [4]. Available sources do not mention a single, definitive ICE‑published, post‑lock FY2025 consolidated removals file that all researchers agree on [5] [4].
Bottom line: use the corrected late‑July ICE datasets and independent reconciliations (per Deportation Data Project and MPI) when citing FY2024–FY2025 removals; recognize “removal” is the legal term that subsumed “deportation,” and that operational counting rules (who CBP processes vs ICE ERO detains) materially change published totals [4] [11] [8].