How many undocumented immigrants were removed under the Trump administration by year?
Executive summary
Available sources report removals (deportations and expulsions) under Trump’s first term (FY2017–FY2020) totaling roughly 1.2 million removals by removal order plus large numbers of returns/expulsions at the border, and they show year-to-year variation with a COVID-related drop in 2020 (ICE removals around 122,000 that year) [1] [2]. Sources covering the Trump administration’s second term (from Jan 2025) give partial, sometimes conflicting counts for 2025—administration claims of 100,000+ removals in the first months and DHS/ICE releases reporting figures like 28,319 through March 11, 2025—so year-by-year totals for the later period are incomplete in the current reporting [3] [4] [5].
1. What “removed” means and why numbers vary
Official statistics distinguish removals (formal deportation orders), returns (voluntary or informal departures), and expulsions (e.g., Title 42 pandemic expulsions); many public totals combine these categories, which produces very different year totals. Pew and DHS-based summaries warn that removals include both CBP border actions and ICE interior removals, and comparisons across years must use fiscal-year DHS data for consistency [6] [7].
2. Trump’s first term (fiscal-year snapshot and the 1.2 million figure)
Multiple outlets and data compilations attribute about 1.2 million “removals” during Trump’s first presidency (FY2017–FY2020) when counting removal orders plus returns/turnbacks at the border; separate tallies show roughly 337,287 total CBP+ICE removals in FY2018 and that FY2019 was near a peak before 2020’s decline [6] [1]. The Independent summarizes the four-year total of roughly 1.2 million removals by removal order and an additional ~805,770 self-deports/turnaways at the border for 2017–2020 [1].
3. Year-to-year pattern in the first term (highs and the COVID dip)
Agency and reporting detail indicate removals were higher in 2017–2019 and dropped sharply in 2020 due to pandemic-era restrictions: for example, FY2019 removals peaked (reported elsewhere at ~267,258 for ICE in one compilation) and FY2020 saw large declines with ICE removals falling to around 122,000, while including Title 42 expulsions would raise 2020 totals [8] [2] [9]. Analysts caution that including expedited removals and Title 42 expulsions changes the totals substantially [9].
4. Interior versus border removals — different actors, different trends
ICE interior removals and CBP border removals follow different trajectories. Econofact and ICE reporting show that interior removals rose under Trump relative to some prior years but remained below the highest historical levels from 2008–2012; meanwhile, much of the Trump-era removal totals reflect border expulsions and rapid “expedited” processes [10] [9]. That distinction matters if the question is specifically about undocumented immigrants “removed from the U.S. interior” versus those returned at the border.
5. Claims about mass deportations in the second Trump term and data gaps
For the Trump administration beginning in 2025, the administration has publicly asserted large removal totals (for example, claims of 100,000+ deportations in early months and DHS statements about 2 million “removed or self-deported” since Jan 20)—but independent reporting shows partial, lower figures (e.g., ICE told Newsweek 28,319 deported between Inauguration Day and March 11, 2025), and outlets note internal disagreement or skepticism about the pace needed to meet mass-deportation targets [5] [3] [4]. Migration Policy and others emphasize that early 2025 data are incomplete and often reported by fiscal year, complicating calendar-year tallies [7] [11].
6. Why precise year-by-year tallies are hard to produce from open reporting
Public sources use different fiscal/calendar periods, mix removal categories (removals, returns, expulsions, expedited removals), and in some cases provide only partial-year or rolling updates. Official dashboards (ICE/CBP/DHS) are the primary source for authoritative fiscal-year counts, but media and advocacy groups sometimes publish aggregated or interpretive totals that diverge from DHS tables [12] [6] [13].
7. What the available sources can support if you want a year-by-year table
To produce a defensible year-by-year table you must (a) choose a single definition (e.g., DHS “removals” by fiscal year, excluding Title 42 expulsions and voluntary returns), and (b) draw directly from DHS/ICE/CBP yearbook or dashboard tables for each fiscal year. Pew and Migration Policy Center summaries reproduce DHS figures for FY2017–FY2020 and note the FY2020 COVID dip; for post-2024 years, ICE dashboards and periodic DHS releases are the primary documents but reporting remains partial in some accounts [6] [7] [12].
8. Bottom line and where to go next
If you want an exact, cited year-by-year count, the best next step is to pull the DHS/ICE/CBP yearbook and ICE enforcement dashboards and specify whether you want fiscal-year removals only, or a broader total that includes returns/expulsions and expedited removals. Pew Research’s summary and Migration Policy’s analyses are good starting points for FY2017–FY2020; for 2025 onward use ICE dashboards and DHS statements while noting that some administration claims reported in press releases are disputed by independent outlets [6] [7] [12] [3].
Limitations: available sources show consistent figures for Trump’s 2017–2020 term but provide partial and sometimes conflicting data for the post-2024 period; all specific numeric claims above are tied to the cited pieces [1] [2] [3] [4] [12].