Which states or border regions report the most citizen deportation incidents?
Executive summary
Available reporting and government data show most large-scale removal activity is concentrated at the U.S.–Mexico border and in states with big immigrant populations, but public sources do not provide a clear, authoritative ranking of “citizen deportation incidents” by state or border region (available sources do not mention a definitive state-by-state list) [1] [2] [3]. Investigations and watchdog reviews document isolated cases of U.S. citizens detained or mistakenly deported and congressional compilations of alleged misconduct map incidents nationwide rather than by single hot‑spot state [4] [5].
1. Where the removals are largest — border sectors and high‑volume states
Federal removal statistics and DHS operational tables emphasize border sectors and states with large immigrant populations as the loci of most arrests and removals. DHS and its Office of Homeland Security Statistics publish monthly encounter, arrest and removal tables that break activity down by sector, field office and citizenship, and show high volumes along the southwest border and in states such as California, Texas and Arizona [3] [2]. The Department of Homeland Security’s public statements in 2025 also describe record numbers of removals and interior enforcement occurring nationwide, but those releases are about total removals, not specifically U.S. citizen cases [6].
2. Citizen detentions and deportations: documented but rare and scattered
Independent reviews and watchdog work find that wrongful detention or removal of U.S. citizens has occurred, but the incidents are scattered across jurisdictions rather than concentrated in one state. The Government Accountability Office and nonprofit analyses estimate perhaps dozens — not thousands — of U.S. citizens deported in recent years, and the American Immigration Council summarizes GAO findings that up to 70 citizens were deported between 2015 and 2020; more recent reporting documents additional individual cases nationwide [4]. Wikipedia and media pieces catalogue specific citizen detentions in places including Portland, OR and Illinois, but these are presented as isolated incidents within broader enforcement campaigns [7] [8].
3. Why there’s no reliable state‑by‑state leaderboard for “citizen deportations”
Neither ICE nor CBP consistently maintain or publish complete, machine‑readable records that would allow a trustworthy ranking of states or border regions for citizen deportation incidents. GAO and others have criticized agency recordkeeping and training, noting that inconsistent documentation and poor tracking make it difficult to determine how many citizens have been wrongly detained or removed [4]. Oversight dashboards compile verified misconduct incidents after the fact, but they are not a live, exhaustive count and do not present an official, comprehensive state ranking [5].
4. Patterns in the data and reporting — enforcement surges and interior operations
Reporting from The Guardian, the New York Times and other outlets documents enforcement surges during political and operational turning points — for example, during the 2025 government shutdown and the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation drives — which increased interior arrests and deportations nationwide and heightened reported incidents of mistaken detentions, including alleged citizen cases [1] [9]. Those surges concentrate activity where immigrant populations are largest and where field offices conduct large interior operations, explaining why California, Texas and other populous states figure prominently in overall removal numbers even though citizen‑specific incidents remain few [1] [3].
5. Oversight and advocacy sources map incidents rather than totals
Congressional oversight pages and advocacy organizations maintain incident lists and case studies documenting alleged misconduct during interior enforcement — including actions at courthouses, arrests at check‑ins and other operations that have ensnared lawful residents and some citizens. Those compilations—such as the Oversight Committee’s dashboard and reporting by immigrant‑rights groups—are useful for identifying geographic clusters of complaints but are explicit that they are verified incident lists, not comprehensive statistical tallies [5] [10].
6. How to interpret reports of “citizen deportations” going forward
Available sources show two competing narratives: federal agencies present aggregate removal totals and operational success (including DHS claims of hundreds of thousands of removals) while watchdogs and legal groups highlight recordkeeping gaps, isolated wrongful detentions and a small number of proven citizen deportations [6] [4]. Because official datasets do not publicly disclose a definitive state‑by‑state count of mistaken citizen deportations, any claim that a particular state or border region “reports the most citizen deportation incidents” is not supported by the sources provided here (available sources do not mention a definitive state-by-state list) [4] [5].
Limitations: public DHS/ICE aggregate tables and advocacy compilations provide strong leads but—per GAO and nonprofit reviews—contain gaps in identifying and verifying citizen mis‑removals, so precise geographic rankings are not currently available in the cited material [4] [3].