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What religion were most of the people deported by trump
Executive summary
Available reporting and analyses indicate that a large share of people subject to the Trump administration’s deportation drives are Christians — several advocacy and faith-group reports put the figure as high as about 4 in 5 (around 80%) of immigrants facing deportation — and faith leaders from Catholic and evangelical communities have been among the most vocal critics of the policy [1] [2] [3]. Government tallies and independent estimates differ about totals (DHS/ICE statements versus outside analysts), and available sources do not provide a single, definitive religious breakdown of all deportations [4] [5].
1. What the faith-group studies say: Christians make up a large share of those at risk
Research and reports sponsored by Catholic and evangelical organizations conclude that most immigrants facing deportation are Christian — The Independent summarized a study saying “up to 80 per cent” of immigrants facing deportation are Christian, and leaders of evangelical and Catholic coalitions warned that mass deportations would remove millions of active church members [1] [2]. Those groups combined religious-demographic data (for example from Pew) with immigration-vulnerability figures (from advocacy groups) to reach their estimates, and framed the numbers to alert U.S. churches and faith communities [2].
2. How advocates built that conclusion — strengths and limits
Advocates derived the religious composition by merging surveys of the foreign-born population’s religious makeup with lists of populations vulnerable to removal (undocumented immigrants, people with revocable statuses, TPS holders, parolees, asylum seekers awaiting final rulings). That method is transparent in the advocacy reporting, but it is not the same as an official, person-by-person count of deportations — the resulting percentage is an informed estimate rather than an ICE-verified statistic [2] [1].
3. Government and independent deportation figures don’t settle religion
DHS and ICE public counts focus on removals, arrests, and operational metrics; they do not routinely publish deportations by religion, and media outlets note differences among DHS claims and outside tallies — for example, Axios cites a DHS figure of roughly 400,000 deportations since Trump took office while also noting analysts question “funny” numbers and counting methods [4]. Migration Policy Center and other analysts document rising detention and removal capacity, but available official data in the sources do not break down deportees by faith [6] [4].
4. Why many deportees are likely to be Christian — demographic context
The reason Christian-majority estimates are plausible is demographic: sizable immigrant populations (from Latin America, parts of Africa, the Philippines, and elsewhere) are predominantly Christian, and some of the groups most affected by policy shifts (e.g., people from Central America, Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba, and parts of Africa and Asia) include large numbers of Christians; faith-based researchers used that reality in their modeling [2] [1]. This demographic logic supports the advocates’ finding, but it remains an aggregate inference rather than direct government reporting [2].
5. Competing viewpoints and political framing
Religious leaders and organizations have taken different tacks: Catholic bishops issued a near‑unanimous rebuke of “indiscriminate” deportations and urged humane treatment, framing the policy as a moral problem [3]. By contrast, some administration allies — including law enforcement officials and commentators — argue deportations are law‑enforcement and border‑security actions; critics of the church statements, such as Tom Homan, defend the crackdown and dispute moral critiques [7] [3]. The faith-group estimates are advanced partly to influence U.S. Christian audiences and mobilize opposition — an explicit advocacy motive noted in the reporting [2] [1].
6. Errors, high‑profile cases, and limits to aggregation
Reporting also documents botched or legally problematic deportations (for example deportations against court orders), which complicate clean counting and fuel both criticism and political defense narratives; Politico and Wikipedia entries highlight specific wrongful removals and administrative errors that have shaped coverage of the campaign [8] [5]. Those incidents underscore that operational chaos, not just aggregate numbers, factors into debates about who is being deported and why [8] [5].
7. Bottom line for your original question
Available sources consistently report that most people facing or subject to deportation under Trump are Christians — advocacy studies estimate up to about 80% and faith groups warn that millions of Christians are vulnerable — but those figures come from combining demographic and vulnerability data rather than a single government breakdown by religion; DHS/ICE public statistics cited in the media do not provide an official faith tally in the materials reviewed [1] [2] [4].