Fact check: How many American citizens have been wrongfully deported?

1. Summary of the results

Based on the available analyses, American citizens have indeed been wrongfully deported, with documented cases occurring both historically and during recent immigration enforcement actions. The data reveals several key findings:

Historical Context: Between 2015 and 2020, as many as 70 US citizens may have been deported by mistake ^[1]. This establishes that wrongful deportations of American citizens are not a new phenomenon but have been occurring over multiple years.

Recent Cases: Several specific cases have been documented in 2025:

• Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a US citizen who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador and is now being brought back to face criminal charges ^{[2] [3] [4]}
• Three U.S. citizen children were deported by ICE under troubling circumstances with due process concerns ^[5]
• Manu, a 2-year-old American girl, was deported to Brazil along with her undocumented parents ^[6]

Systemic Issues: The analyses indicate that wrongful deportations occur due to increased pressure and speed to deport people without proper procedural protections ^[7], suggesting this is not merely isolated incidents but potentially a systemic problem.

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original question lacks several important contextual elements:

Legal and Procedural Context: The analyses reveal that wrongful deportations often involve erosion of due process rights and obstruction of truth by government agencies ^[2]. Immigration lawyers have raised concerns about these procedural failures, but the original question doesn't address the legal framework that should protect citizens.

Administrative Resistance: In the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a federal judge accused the Trump administration of trying to obstruct the truth about the deportation ^[2], indicating potential government resistance to accountability measures.

Family Separation Impact: The cases show that wrongful deportations don't just affect individual citizens but can result in family separations, as seen with the 2-year-old American girl deported with her parents ^[6] and the three citizen children ^[5].

Advocacy Perspective: Immigration rights organizations and lawyers would benefit from highlighting these cases to demonstrate the need for stronger procedural protections and oversight of deportation processes.

Government Perspective: Immigration enforcement agencies might argue that mistakes are inevitable in large-scale operations, though this viewpoint is not explicitly represented in the provided analyses.

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original question itself is neutral and factual in nature, asking for quantitative information about wrongful deportations. However, there are several limitations:

Incomplete Data Scope: The question asks "how many" but the available data only provides partial estimates (70 citizens between 2015-2020) and specific recent cases rather than comprehensive current statistics ^[1]. This suggests the true scope may be larger than what's documented.

Temporal Limitations: The analyses focus heavily on recent cases from 2025 and historical data from 2015-2020, potentially missing cases from other time periods.

Definition Ambiguity: The question doesn't specify whether it includes citizens who were detained but not actually deported, or children who were deported with non-citizen parents, which could significantly affect the count.

Underreporting Bias: The documented cases likely represent only those that have come to public attention or legal challenge, suggesting the actual number of wrongful deportations may be significantly higher than reported ^{[7] [5]}.