How many illegal immigrant have been deported

1. What the government says: DHS and ICE’s headline numbers

The Department of Homeland Security publicly celebrated “more than 527,000 deportations” and framed the broader movement as “more than 2 million illegal aliens have left the U.S., including 1.6 million who voluntarily self-deported,” a figure the department used to demonstrate progress on enforcement ^[2]; ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations provides the operational framework for these removals though its public statistics are selective and the agency’s site explains categories without always reconciling monthly totals into a single annual figure ^[4].

2. Independent analysts: lower and more specific estimates

Independent researchers flag narrower counts: the Migration Policy Institute, parsing available agency releases and other records, estimates ICE conducted about 340,000 deportations in fiscal year 2025—an estimate that explicitly includes formal removals and detainees who accepted voluntary departure under custody ^[1]; this lower figure reflects analysts’ cautious approach to incomplete DHS transparency and differences in methodology.

3. Administration and media tallies: larger grand totals and political framing

Several high-profile reports and administration statements put the cumulative tally higher: Reuters reported that “some 622,000 immigrants have been deported since Trump took office in January,” a number used by administration allies to portray an aggressive, large-scale removal operation ^[3]. Fox News and DHS communications emphasized net migration turning negative and tied deportations to broader declines in immigrant population estimates, citing Brookings and CBO comparisons ^{[5] [6]}.

4. Why figures differ: definitions, voluntary departures, and opaque reporting

The disagreement is less about simple arithmetic than about definitions and data scope: agencies and analysts trade off “removals,” “returns,” and “voluntary self-deportations,” and some tallies include rapid border expulsions or non-ICE actions (CBP expedited removals) while others count only formal ICE-processed removals ^{[6] [4] [1]}. Brookings warns that some removal statistics may encompass border removals and enforcement actions not initiated by ICE, which can nearly double counts if compared to ICE’s FY tables ^[6].

5. Context matters: detention, enforcement tactics, and political incentives

Numbers must be read alongside enforcement changes: detention bed capacity surged, interior enforcement grew, and politics incentivized headline-grabbing counts—DHS releases and administration briefs emphasized high totals and voluntary departures as proof of effectiveness, while advocacy groups and independent researchers have argued that expanded use of detention and pressure tactics likely increased coerced departures, complicating whether departures constitute voluntary migration or de facto removals ^{[7] [2] [1]}.

6. Bottom line and limits of the record

Therefore the direct answer is: there is not a single, undisputed number; credible public estimates of formal deportations in FY2025 or the first year of the second Trump administration range from roughly 340,000 (MPI’s FY2025 estimate) to the DHS/administration figures of more than 527,000 deportations and government-cited totals sometimes pushed to about 622,000 since January 2025, with broader counts including 1.6–2 million voluntary departures that administration statements combine with removals ^{[1] [2] [3] [8]}. This reporting is constrained by uneven DHS data releases and differing methodologies across agencies and analysts—official monthly tables exist (OHSS) but public reconciliation across CBP, ICE and OHSS datasets is incomplete ^{[9] [4]}.