How did annual deportations change year-by-year under Biden compared to Trump and Obama?
Executive summary
Annual removal totals rose significantly under Biden compared with the Trump years and equaled or exceeded past peaks: DHS data show Biden’s administration recorded about 272,000 removals in FY2024, and reporting indicates Biden-era removals and returns reached millions across his term and often outpaced Trump’s comparable periods [1] [2]. Independent analysts and institutes caution comparisons are complicated because DHS counts “removals,” “returns” and expulsions (Title 42) differently and fiscal-year timing can distort per‑president totals [3] [4].
1. Different tallies, different stories: removals vs. returns and expulsions
Official statistics lump several categories—formal removals, voluntary returns at the border, and expulsions under emergency rules—into public “removals” figures. The Migration Policy Institute notes many Biden-era departures took the form of voluntary returns at the border rather than formal interior deportations, a shift that inflates totals without necessarily meaning more interior arrests and courtroom removals [3]. TRAC and other analysts warn that semi‑monthly ICE reports and DHS press statements can mix fiscal‑year cutoffs and reporting windows, producing apples‑to‑oranges comparisons unless carefully normalized [4] [1].
2. Biden’s raw numbers and why they look large
Multiple outlets and government tallies reported that Biden oversaw very high repatriation totals, with some reporting that his administration’s repatriations in 2021–22 and later years produced totals that outpaced Trump’s first term and even matched or exceeded Obama-era peaks in some years [2] [3]. TRAC highlighted a concrete FY2024 figure—272,000 removals—when contrasting it with administration claims and later comparisons [1]. Migration Policy Institute and other reporting explain a major driver: when border encounters surged, more people were removed or returned at the border, which raises aggregate removal counts [3].
3. Trump’s deportation rates — rhetoric vs. the early record
Trump campaigned on dramatically higher deportation numbers, but reporting from Reuters and TRAC shows that initial Trump-era monthly removal rates were lower than the high monthly averages seen in Biden’s last full year [5] [1]. Reuters reported Trump deported roughly 37,660 people in his first month of the second term, which was “far less” than the ~57,000 monthly average of removals and returns in Biden’s last full year [5]. TRAC’s analyses found Trump’s early daily removal averages were close to—but in some windows slightly below—Biden’s daily averages, and cautioned that fiscal‑year boundaries complicate direct comparisons [4] [1].
4. Obama as the historical comparator
Several analyses remind readers that Barack Obama recorded some of the highest cumulative deportation totals in recent decades, and that monthly peaks in his presidency (for example, 2013) exceeded the monthly averages reported for later presidents [6] [7]. Factchequeado’s broad multi‑president review and other outlets emphasize that Obama’s long‑term totals and peak monthly removal figures remain useful context when weighing whether any subsequent administration is “the biggest deporter” [6] [7].
5. Why year‑by‑year comparisons are fragile
Comparisons by calendar year or by president risk misleading conclusions because federal fiscal years run October–September and because administrations change mid‑January, slicing reporting windows oddly; semi‑monthly ICE reporting and DHS press releases sometimes report cumulative totals that begin at different start dates [4]. Analysts—TRAC and Migration Policy Institute—explicitly warn readers that different timeframes, different categories of departure (expulsion vs. removal vs. voluntary return), and diplomatic agreements to take back nationals all affect annual totals [4] [3].
6. Competing interpretations and the politics behind the numbers
Advocates and critics draw opposite conclusions from the same datasets. Pro‑enforcement voices argue high Biden-era totals show enforcement capacity when arrivals spiked, while critics point out that many of those departures were voluntary returns or expulsions under Title 42 and therefore reflect border processing, not expansive interior enforcement [3] [1]. Outlets and think tanks also note political incentives: administrations use favorable reporting windows and categories to claim momentum or to downplay figures that undercut campaign rhetoric [4] [1].
7. What the available sources do not resolve
Available sources do not provide a clean, year‑by‑year table in this packet that lists every calendar or fiscal year removal total for Obama, Trump and Biden side‑by‑side with a consistent definition for “deportation.” Several pieces include specific annual or monthly figures (for example, FY2024 = 272,000 removals under Biden and Trump’s first month = 37,660), but a harmonized year‑by‑year dataset with identical categories and fiscal boundaries is not present in the provided reporting [1] [5].
Bottom line: public reporting shows Biden’s years included very large numbers of removals and returns—often exceeding Trump’s comparable early‑term totals—but analysts caution those higher totals reflect shifts in the mix of expulsions, voluntary returns and formal removals and are sensitive to fiscal‑year timing and reporting choices [3] [4] [1].