Fact check: How many US citizens have been wrongly deported since 2010?

1. Shocking headline numbers — Seventy confirmed deportations in recent five-year review

Multiple reports in 2025 and a 2021 study converge on a central figure: at least 70 U.S. citizens were deported by ICE between 2015 and 2020, a minimum confirmed number that scholars and advocates treat as conservative ^{[1] [2] [3]}. These sources describe corroborating case files, legal complaints, and agency acknowledgments compiled across investigations through mid-2025, and they frame the 70-plus figure as the portion confidently documented rather than a comprehensive total. The reporting also stresses that this count does not include those who were arrested or detained and later released but nonetheless experienced constitutional harms ^[1].

2. Hundreds more arrested or detained — the broader toll beyond deportations

Beyond confirmed deportations, investigators identified hundreds of additional incidents where people believed to be U.S. citizens were arrested (674 flagged in one review) or detained (121 counted) by immigration authorities during the 2015–2020 window, underscoring broader procedural breakdowns ^{[1] [2]}. These figures point to systemic problems in identity verification, training, and record-sharing, and they highlight the differential impact between those ultimately removed and many more who endured detention, legal jeopardy, or family separation without being deported. The wider cohort is central to debates over policy remedies because it reflects processes that can produce wrongful deportations when errors compound ^[1].

3. Recent casework brings the abstract into focus — Kilmar Abrego Garcia and 2025 litigation

High-profile cases such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia in 2025 illustrate ongoing risks of wrongful removal or threatened removal, with litigation alleging prosecutorial vindictiveness and raising questions about asylum rights and procedural fairness in deportation proceedings ^{[4] [5] [6]}. Garcia’s case involves claims that he was mistakenly sent to El Salvador and is now contesting subsequent removal attempts tied to broader administration policies; a federal judge in Tennessee has permitted expanded evidence gathering and possible witness testimony, signaling judicial scrutiny and showing how individual litigation uncovers system failures and potential remedies ^[5].

4. What authorities and advocates agree on: systems failure, not isolated mistakes

Advocacy and investigative reports from 2021 through mid-2025 frame wrongful deportations as the product of flawed verification systems, inadequate training, and poor record-keeping, rather than mere human error in isolated incidents ^{[1] [2] [3]}. The consistent emphasis across sources is that information silos, unreliable databases, and incentives prioritizing removals over careful identity resolution increase the chance of U.S. citizens being misidentified. This consensus underpins calls for reforms such as improved identity verification protocols, stronger oversight, mandatory audits, and remedies for victims, with many sources arguing existing agency reforms remain insufficient ^[2].

5. Limits in the evidence — why the question “since 2010” cannot be precisely answered here

The assembled materials provide solid documentation for 2015–2020 but do not produce a validated count for 2010–2014 or for post-2020 comprehensively, and they explicitly note that the 70-case figure likely understates the true scale because of data gaps and inconsistent reporting by ICE and related agencies ^{[1] [3]}. Reports caution against extrapolation: the 674 arrests and 121 detentions are described as instances identified in specific reviews rather than exhaustive registries, and the analyses repeatedly flag incomplete record-keeping and jurisdictional complexity as barriers to an authoritative decade-long total ^[1].

6. Conflicting emphases and potential agendas — how to read the sources

All sources should be treated as carrying perspectives: advocacy organizations emphasize systemic constitutional harms and press for reforms, while litigation-focused reporting highlights individual legal battles and agency practices that prompted court intervention ^{[1] [2] [5]}. The packets contain unrelated material (items about birthright citizenship or unrelated topics) that do not bear on deportation counts and may reflect broader immigration debates or editorial framing ^{[7] [8] [9]}. Readers should note that advocacy studies aim to document undercounting, whereas legal coverage centers on case law and procedural remedy.

7. Bottom line and what remains to be done — transparency, audits, and a fuller public accounting

Based on the assembled reports, the defensible public finding is that at least 70 U.S. citizens were deported between 2015 and 2020, with hundreds more arrested or detained, and that individual cases into 2025 show the problem persists ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]}. However, the total number wrongly deported since 2010 cannot be confidently stated from these materials alone; a complete answer requires agency-wide audits, standardized reporting, and release of historical records covering 2010–2014 and post-2020 operations. Until such transparency arrives, the documented minimum and the broader pattern of systemic lapses should guide policy and legal responses ^{[1] [2]}.