How many immigrants were deported annually under each U.S. president since 1990?
Executive summary
Quantifying annual deportations by U.S. president since 1990 is complicated by multiple data categories (formal “removals,” “returns,” Title 42 expulsions and voluntary departures) and by different agencies reporting in different ways; available sources show presidents and parties vary considerably, with Barack Obama’s two terms often cited as the highest in raw removals and Democratic administrations removing more people overall between 1990–2018 (Democrats ~3.9 million vs Republicans ~2.7 million) [1]. The Migration Policy Institute finds 1.1 million deportations under Biden from FY2021–Feb 2024 (on pace to match Trump’s four-year total of ~1.5 million), and ICE’s public statistics remain the primary raw source for year-by-year counts [2] [3].
1. Why the headline question is harder than it sounds — data categories and counting methods
Officials use multiple, overlapping measures: “removals” (formal deportations), “returns” (often voluntary departures), and expulsions under Title 42 (public‑health removals), and some sources lump expulsions into overall repatriation totals. That makes a clean per‑president, per‑year “deportation” number elusive; Migration Policy Institute explains that Biden’s 1.1 million figure (FY2021–Feb 2024) sits alongside roughly 3 million Title 42 expulsions in 2020–2023, meaning totals depend on whether expulsions are counted [2]. ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations statistics are the underlying year‑by‑year database most analysts use, but the agency’s dashboards separate categories and have caveats [3].
2. What major analyses say about the 1990–2018 period
Scholars and think tanks have aggregated DHS/ICE data to show party‑level patterns: Cato’s review finds that from 1990–2018 Democratic presidents accounted for roughly 60% of removals — about 3.9 million — versus about 2.7 million under Republican presidents, producing averages of ~246,006 removals per year under Democrats and ~205,453 under Republicans for that period [1]. Those figures reflect totals compiled across administrations rather than single‑year presidential tallies and underline that “which president deported the most” depends on time window and definitions [1].
3. Recent presidential terms: headline numbers and contesting claims
Contemporary reporting and analysis differ on who “deported the most.” The Migration Policy Institute reports the Biden administration registered roughly 1.1 million removals from FY2021 through February 2024 and was on pace to match the roughly 1.5 million deportations carried out during Trump’s first four years, while also overseeing the vast majority of the 3 million Title 42 expulsions between March 2020 and May 2023 — a distinction that substantially alters comparisons [2]. Other outlets cite Obama’s two terms as the highest in raw removals; summaries and news outlets repeat large totals for Obama and Trump without always clarifying which categories are included [4] [5]. These divergent framings reflect varying choices about whether expulsions and voluntary departures are counted [2] [3].
4. Why administrations and advocates disagree about “who deported more”
Disputes hinge on methodology and political framing. Administrations and supporters may emphasize returning migrants via expulsions or voluntary departures as policy successes; critics emphasize formal removals and human‑rights consequences. Migration Policy Institute highlights that combining deportations, expulsions and returns gives Biden nearly 4.4 million repatriations — a larger number than most single terms — but that figure mixes categories that some analysts exclude from “deportations” [2]. Cato’s analysis focuses on formal removals to compare party trends over decades [1]. Different outlets adopt different metrics and therefore produce conflicting headline claims [2] [1].
5. What the primary public data source says and its limits
ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations statistics are the canonical, public dataset for enforcement counts and break out removals, returns and Title 42 expulsions; ICE’s site includes caveats about categories and reporting changes over time [3]. Analysts warn that policy changes (e.g., Title 42, pandemic restrictions), administrative priorities, and use of expedited removal authority create year‑to‑year and between‑administration discontinuities that undercut direct comparisons [3] [2].
6. What’s not in the available reporting and next steps if you want exact annual numbers
Available sources in this dossier do not provide a ready, single table of “annual deportations by president since 1990” that uses one consistent definition across years; they instead offer totals, averages, and competing aggregates [2] [1] [3]. To produce a precise year‑by‑year list you must (a) pick a single measure (ICE “removals” is the most common), (b) pull ICE/DHS annual reports or the ICE statistics portal for each fiscal year, and (c) note when expulsions (Title 42) or voluntary departures are added or excluded [3] [2]. The sources above identify where those larger aggregations and disputes arise [2] [1].
Limitations: this analysis relies only on the provided reporting, which aggregates different measures in different ways; it highlights the methodological disputes in the sources rather than asserting an unambiguous per‑year deportation series [2] [1] [3].