How many interior ICE removals occurred each fiscal year from 2009 to 2024?
Executive summary
A precise, independently verifiable year‑by‑year table of ICE interior removals for FY2009–FY2024 is not fully available in the supplied reporting; instead, the sources collectively provide key datapoints, period averages, and methodological caveats that allow a qualified reconstruction and point readers to primary datasets for exact annual tallies (ICE, TRAC, DHS) [1] [2] [3]. Major takeaways: interior removals peaked around FY2009, fell across the late 2010s, plunged after 2020, and remained at markedly lower levels through FY2024 — with authoritative sources reporting single‑year figures such as ~276,122 total removals for FY2019 (noting this combines border and interior in some sources) and an interior removals figure under 48,000 for FY2024 [4] [5] [6].
1. What the question demands and why available reporting matters
The user asks for a simple annual series — "How many interior ICE removals occurred each fiscal year from 2009 to 2024?" — which requires ICE or DHS tables that explicitly break removals into "ICE‑initiated interior removals" by fiscal year; the supplied materials include summary reports and datasets but do not include one complete, quoted table of interior removals for every year 2009–2024, so this analysis synthesizes published points and flags where the primary records must be consulted [1] [2] [3].
2. Key single‑year figures and authoritative snapshots found in the sources
Several precise datapoints appear across sources: ICE-era reporting and archival notes identify FY2009 as a high‑water mark for interior removals—roughly 238,000 interior removals in FY2009 is cited in multiple analyses [7] [5]. The Government Accountability Office reported total removals of 276,122 in 2019 and documented a sharp decline to 81,547 by FY2022, underscoring a major drop after 2019 though GAO’s figure is a total removals number that can reflect both border and interior actions depending on the dataset [4]. Migration Policy Institute summarizes multi‑year averages: about 155,000 interior removals per year in FY2009–2016, about 81,000 per year in FY2017–2020, and roughly 38,000 per year in FY2021–2024, while also noting ICE/ERO removed 224,000 people after border arrests in FY2024 as interior removals declined [6].
3. Partial series and ranges suggested by the reporting
Putting those anchor points together suggests a high plateau around FY2009–FY2013, a decline through the Obama–Trump transition and then a more pronounced contraction under the Biden years and the COVID/post‑2020 policies; sources note FY2014 interior removals around ~102,000 (as part of a 316,000 total removal year that also included many CBP encounters) and indicate interior removals in FY2024 were "fewer than 48,000" according to Migration Policy and related analyses [8] [5] [6]. The Deportation Data Project and TRAC hold case‑level ICE removal records that can produce an exact annual interior series, but the supplied summaries do not reproduce that full table here [2] [9].
4. Why year‑to‑year comparisons are tricky: definitions, locking, and agency reporting
Reported counts vary because of methodological choices (for example, ICE “locks” removal statistics at a cutoff each year, which can exclude removals confirmed after the lock date), and because some DHS/OIS tables mix ICE interior removals with CBP‑initiated border removals unless tables are filtered carefully; the FY2009 lock practice and later reporting revisions are explicitly noted in ICE archival materials and the DHS yearbook [7] [3]. Independent aggregators (TRAC, Deportation Data Project) and GAO audits caution readers to check whether a series reports “ICE‑initiated interior removals,” all DHS removals, or removals by initial arresting agency [2] [4] [1].
5. How to get the exact FY2009–FY2024 interior removal counts and next steps
To produce the requested year‑by‑year table with forensic accuracy, consult ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations statistics dashboards and archived annual removal tables, the DHS Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (Yearbook 2024), and TRAC’s and the Deportation Data Project’s case‑level files; those primary sources allow filtering for removals initiated by ICE in the interior and will yield the full FY2009–FY2024 sequence [1] [3] [2]. The reporting provided here supplies verified anchor points and averages (e.g., FY2009 peak, FY2014 interior count within a larger total, FY2019 total removals, FY2022 drop, FY2024 low interior removals and high border removals), but not a ready, complete year‑by‑year interior removals table in the excerpted materials [7] [8] [4] [6].