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Fact check: What were the total deportation numbers in 2023 for comparison?
Executive Summary
The most reliable U.S. count for removals in Fiscal Year 2023 is 142,580 deportations reported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a figure corroborated by contemporaneous reporting that highlighted a near doubling from the prior year and nearly 18,000 family unit removals (parents and children) [1] [2]. German deportation totals for calendar-year 2023 are reported differently across outlets: one German report gives 13,512 deportations for 2023 while other coverage cites 7,861 for the first half of 2023, reflecting different reporting windows and definitions that complicate direct comparisons [3] [4].
1. Why the U.S. number is high and what it actually counts
ICE’s Fiscal Year 2023 report states 142,580 removals to over 170 countries, a number that reflects operations under Enforcement and Removal Operations and is presented on a fiscal-year basis rather than calendar-year, spanning October 2022 through September 2023. The figure includes a variety of removal categories and counts individual removals rather than unique persons in all cases; ICE and reporting outlets also highlight an increase in family unit removals—about 18,000 people—underscoring a rise in deportations of parents and children [1] [2]. This methodology and timeframe are critical because fiscal-year reporting can differ materially from calendar-year tallies.
2. How mainstream reporting validated the ICE total
Major U.S. outlets reported the ICE FY2023 total in late December 2023, noting that the number represented a significant uptick compared with the prior fiscal year and contextualizing the count against policy changes, such as the lifting of Title 42 earlier in 2023. The Washington Post and ICE’s own annual report present the same 142,000-plus removals and emphasize family-unit removals as a notable component of the total, aligning agency data with independent reporting timelines and reinforcing that the number corresponds to the fiscal-year accounting used by ICE [2] [1].
3. Reporting caveats and data quality flags in U.S. datasets
Independent projects tracking deportations later noted limitations in ICE’s historical individual-level removals data. The Deportation Data Project disclosed that its public datasets for removals only reliably include records from January 1, 2025 onward due to "significant errors" in earlier records, and their dataset covering Sep 2023–Jun 2025 reflects ongoing back-end corrections, meaning some granular, person-level verification for FY2023 removals remains challenging for external researchers [5]. This underscores that agency totals are authoritative but that microdata needed for detailed analyses may have quality gaps.
4. German figures vary by period and source — here’s what’s reported
German reporting shows divergent figures depending on the period covered: a German-language report published December 21, 2023 states 13,512 deportations in 2023 as a full-year calendar count, while separate reporting from August 2023 listed 7,861 deportations for the first six months of 2023, a 27% increase compared with the prior year’s equivalent period [3] [4]. Subsequent coverage in 2025 cited higher totals for later years—about 20,100 in 2024—and early-2025 quarterly spikes, illustrating how Germany’s year-to-year and intra-year shifts complicate apples-to-apples comparisons with U.S. fiscal-year totals [6].
5. Why direct U.S.–Germany comparisons are misleading without adjustments
Comparing the U.S. FY2023 ICE figure of 142,580 to German totals requires aligning calendars, definitions, and operational scopes. The U.S. number is a fiscal-year removals count that includes deportations to 170+ countries and explicitly counts family-unit removals; German figures cited are calendar-year totals or partial-year tallies and can exclude certain categories or use different legal definitions for “deportation” versus “return.” Thus, raw headline numbers are not directly comparable without re-basing to the same timeframes and harmonized definitions [1] [3] [4].
6. Multiple viewpoints and potential reporting agendas to note
U.S. federal counts originate from ICE, an enforcement agency with institutional incentives to present operational metrics; media reports amplify the agency number while also highlighting policy context such as Title 42’s end. German reporting often references national justice or interior ministry data or regional reporting that may emphasize increases or policy responses. Observers should note that agency sources aim to document activity levels while media framing can emphasize political implications, so triangulation across official reports and independent datasets is essential [1] [2] [3].
7. Best short answer and practical next steps for verification
The best single-number answer for U.S. removals in 2023 is 142,580 (FY2023, ICE); for Germany, use 13,512 for calendar-year 2023 but treat half-year and subsequent-year figures (7,861 for H1 2023; ~20,100 in 2024) as complementary context. For deeper verification, consult ICE’s FY2023 annual report and the German ministry or statistical agency releases for calendar-year breakdowns, and cross-check with independent datasets like the Deportation Data Project for person-level records where available [1] [3] [5].