How many noncriminal deportations occurred in the U.S. in 2025 and what sources report this data?
Executive summary
Available reporting and government releases give a range, not a single agreed number, for non‑criminal deportations in 2025: Migration Policy Institute estimates about 340,000 ICE deportations in FY2025 (which include many non‑criminals) while DHS press releases claim "more than 527,000 deportations" or project nearly 600,000 total removals — and independent news reporting finds large shares of those deported had no criminal convictions (MPI; DHS; The Marshall Project) [1] [2] [3].
1. What the official numbers say — competing DHS tallies and claims
The Department of Homeland Security has issued public statements asserting very large totals: a DHS release says "more than 527,000 deportations" and other DHS messaging projects the administration is on pace toward "nearly 600,000" removals in 2025 [2] [4]. DHS also publishes monthly enforcement tables and operational statistics intended to document removals, encounters and returns; those datasets are the source material DHS points to for its tallies [5].
2. Academic and think‑tank accounting — MPI’s lower, evidence‑based estimate
Migration Policy Institute’s synthesis of government data estimates ICE conducted about 340,000 deportations in FY2025, explicitly including removals ordered by courts and detainees who voluntarily ended detention to leave — an accounting that differs markedly from the higher totals asserted in some DHS releases [1]. MPI frames its number as based on “latest publicly available figures,” making clear the estimate reflects specific datasets and definitional choices [1].
3. Independent reporting on criminality of those removed
Investigations by The Marshall Project and other outlets report that large shares of people removed in 2025 had no criminal convictions: The Marshall Project found roughly two‑thirds of more than 120,000 deportations between January and May were people with no criminal convictions, and only about 12% had been convicted of violent or potentially violent crimes — a finding that challenges DHS messaging that most removals target criminals [3].
4. Data gaps, definitions and why totals diverge
Sources reveal at least three reasons for divergent totals: different timeframes (calendar year vs. fiscal year), inclusion or exclusion of voluntary self‑deportations and returns, and the use of aggregated DHS press releases versus component tables that require detailed parsing [1] [5] [6]. Reporting and analysts also note DHS sometimes highlights high‑level totals without publishing the underlying line‑item data needed to verify how many removals were formal deportations versus voluntary departures [6] [7].
5. Evidence that DHS counts and public claims are contested
NPR and journalistic fact‑checking flag inconsistencies between DHS press releases and the data the department has publicly released; NPR reports evidence that the "more than 500,000" figure lacks the supporting public documentation DHS normally provides [7]. The Dispatch and other analysts trace some broad DHS claims to external reports or charts and question whether the department’s summaries conflate different categories of departures [6].
6. On “noncriminal” deportations — what the sources actually document
Several sources document that many deportations in 2025 were of people without criminal convictions: The Marshall Project’s analysis covers January–May removals and finds about two‑thirds lacked convictions [3]. Trac court data cited by others show that a very small share of new immigration court cases in FY2025 alleged criminal activity as the basis for removal, suggesting a large portion of removals originated from immigration violations rather than criminal records [8].
7. Where to look for the primary data if you want to verify
Primary data live in DHS component tables and ICE enforcement/removals series: ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations statistics and DHS’s Office of Homeland Security Statistics monthly tables are the authoritative raw sources analysts use to build estimates [9] [5]. Independent researchers (MPI, The Marshall Project, major news outlets) then aggregate and interpret those tables, which produces the differing published totals [1] [3] [10].
8. Bottom line and what is not yet settled
Available sources do not present one definitive count of "noncriminal deportations" for all of 2025; instead they offer a range: DHS claims hundreds of thousands of removals (over 527,000 or projections near 600,000), MPI estimates about 340,000 ICE deportations for FY2025, and investigative reporting documents that a majority of many months’ removals involved people without criminal convictions [2] [4] [1] [3]. The disagreement centers on definitions (removal types and voluntary departures), timeframes, and incomplete public release of the granular DHS data that would allow full reconciliation [7] [6] [5].
Limitations: this summary uses only the documents and reporting supplied above; it does not attempt independent recalculation from raw DHS/ICE files and does not cover data published after the cited pieces [5] [1] [7].