How do removal totals under Clinton compare, year-by-year, to those under subsequent administrations?
Executive summary
Bill Clinton’s two-term record is often cited as the largest in raw “deportation” numbers, but that headline hides a crucial distinction: the vast majority of the movements recorded under Clinton were classified as “returns” (border repatriations or voluntary departures) rather than formal removals ordered by a judge—Migration Policy Institute (MPI) reports 12.3 million expulsions for Clinton’s terms with 11.4 million of those as returns [1]. Independent fact-checking and DHS definitions show far lower counts for formal removals during FY1993–FY2000—roughly 827,100 removals by one widely used DHS accounting [2].
1. Clinton’s totals: big headline numbers, small formal removals
Statistics aggregated for the 1993–2000 period show roughly 12 million people “expelled” when combining returns and removals, and MPI emphasizes that roughly 93 percent of that total were returns rather than formal, order-based removals [1]. FactCheck.org and DHS-based reporting make the opposite point: if the metric is “removals” narrowly defined as removals under an order of removal, the total for the fiscal years covering Clinton’s terms is far lower—more than 827,100 removals across FY1993–FY2000 [2].
2. How Clinton’s totals compare to George W. Bush, Obama and Trump in aggregate
When like-with-like aggregates (returns plus removals) are cited, MPI and other analysts place Clinton’s ~12.3 million at the top, followed by George W. Bush at roughly 10–10.3 million, Obama at about five million, and Trump’s 2017–2021 period at roughly 1.5 million in the cited reporting [1] [3] [4]. Several organizations repeat that composite ranking—Clinton highest, Bush second, Obama third, Trump markedly lower—while noting that the composition (returns vs. removals) and enforcement focus varied markedly across administrations [1] [3] [4].
3. Year-by-year comparisons: what the sources do — and do not — provide
The available reporting and analyses cited here organize data by fiscal year and by broad presidential periods rather than publishing a clean, comparable table of removals for each year of every administration; MPI explicitly notes reliance on fiscal-year organization to enable cross-administration comparison given differences in monthly reporting [1]. The sources therefore supply strong aggregate contrasts (Clinton-era expulsions dominated by returns; later administrations shifted targets and legal classifications) but do not provide, in the excerpts here, a single authoritative year-by-year list of formal “removals” for every fiscal year under Clinton and each subsequent administration to permit an immediate, line-by-line year comparison in this piece [1] [2].
4. Why definitions matter—returns vs. removals and policy context
Much of the apparent difference is definitional: DHS distinguishes “returns” (voluntary or administrative departures) from “removals” (compulsory, ordered departures), and MPI and other analysts warn that combining the two without clarity can mislead comparisons of enforcement intensity or targeting [1] [2]. Beyond classification, policy tools such as voluntary return programs, border practices, and later mechanisms like Title 42 expulsions changed the mix of encounters that produce returns versus adjudicated removals, so aggregate totals over a president’s term reflect both policy choices and border dynamics [1].
5. Bottom line and caveat for year-by-year precision
The bottom line in the available reporting: measured as “expulsions” (returns plus removals), Clinton’s period registers the largest aggregate number (~12.3 million, ~11.4 million returns), far outpacing subsequent presidents in those composites; measured strictly as formal DHS “removals,” Clinton’s fiscal-year removals total is much lower (roughly 827,100 over FY1993–FY2000), and subsequent administrations show different balances between returns and removals that change the interpretation [1] [2]. The reporting consulted does not provide a fully detailed, year-by-year table of formal removals for every fiscal year across all administrations in this summary, so constructing an exact year-to-year numeric comparison would require pulling raw DHS Yearbook and monthly enforcement tables and reconciling “returns” vs. “removals” by fiscal year [1].