Did Obama's deportation numbers include voluntary departures, and how does that compare to Trump's numbers?

1. How many people were removed under Obama versus Trump — the headline totals

Analyses of DHS and other public data show that the Obama administration recorded more total removals and returns across his two terms than the Trump administration did in comparable periods, with several outlets and data projects concluding Obama oversaw the highest removal totals in recent decades ^{[3] [4] [6]}. Fact-checking and research groups comparing multi-year data report Obama-era totals of millions of removals/returns across 2009–2016, figures that consistently outpace Trump-era totals in several retrospective tallies ^{[3] [7]}.

2. What “counts” as a deportation in official data — removals, returns, voluntary departures

U.S. immigration statistics are built from multiple categories: formal removals (deportation orders) and returns or voluntary departures (where a noncitizen accepts return without a formal removal order) are both recorded in DHS datasets and frequently aggregated into a single “deportation/removal” number used in public reporting ^{[2] [4]}. Migration Policy Institute notes that historically many border apprehensions were handled as voluntary returns or withdrawals rather than formal removals, and DHS reporting has long combined enforcement returns and administrative returns with removal orders in its tables ^[2].

3. Did Obama’s numbers include voluntary departures? Yes — and that mattered

Scholars and policy analysts emphasize that a significant share of the Obama-era totals consisted of returns and voluntary departures, particularly early in his administration and for migrants intercepted at the border; those categories are reflected in the aggregate deportation counts often cited to describe Obama’s record ^{[1] [2]}. Reporting and research that disaggregate the data show the Obama administration’s emphasis on expulsions and returns at or near the border contributed to high headline totals even as policy rhetoric emphasized prioritizing criminals and recent crossers ^{[1] [4]}.

4. How that compares with Trump — fewer headline removals but different enforcement

By contrast, many analyses report that Trump’s administrations deported fewer people in raw aggregated totals than Obama did, but with a different enforcement profile: Trump eliminated Obama-era prioritization guidance and pushed for broader interior enforcement, which critics argue produced more disruptive and visible interior arrests even if DHS aggregate counts were lower ^{[3] [5]}. Several outlets and data projects concluded that Trump-era removals were lower in some years than Obama’s peak years, and that Trump’s removals included a higher emphasis on interior arrests and formal removal orders rather than border returns ^{[3] [4] [5]}.

5. Caveats, data limits and what the comparison actually tells journalists and policymakers

Comparing presidential deportation records requires care because DHS reporting combines different event types, timeframes, and administrative categories that can mask operational differences; experts and data projects warn the datasets may be incomplete or inconsistent and that departure date fields or administrative classifications can skew comparisons ^{[7] [2]}. In short: yes, Obama’s headline deportation numbers included voluntary returns and administrative returns that boost aggregate totals ^{[2] [1]}, and most public analyses find those combined totals exceed Trump-era totals — but the two administrations prioritized different kinds of enforcement, so raw totals alone do not fully capture the human or policy impact of each presidency’s approach ^{[3] [5]}.