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How many illegal immigrants has ICE removed in FY2025
Executive Summary
The available public claims present a wide range: the Department of Homeland Security and allied administration statements assert that ICE and related operations have removed hundreds of thousands of noncitizens in FY2025, with specific tallies ranging from roughly 400,000 to over 527,000 removals and broader claims of more than 2 million people either removed or self-deported; independent datasets and ICE’s own official published tables, however, show that FY2025 figures were not fully locked or published at the time of reporting and that partial tallies (for example, through mid-2025) record roughly 528,000 removals but do not cover the full fiscal year [1] [2] [3] [4]. The discrepancy arises from differences in what “removed” and “self-deported” mean, the reporting cutoffs, and whether administrative claims aggregate removals, voluntary departures, and other categories into headline totals [5] [3] [6].
1. Bold Administration Claims and Big Numbers: What’s Being Announced
Administration and DHS statements published in late 2025 emphasize sweeping enforcement outcomes, asserting that ICE and related components have removed more than half a million noncitizens and, in some announcements, that over two million people have left the country either through formal removal or voluntary self-deportation in a compressed span [1] [5]. These claims often combine figures from multiple enforcement categories—formal ICE removals, border expulsions, and voluntary departures—into a single headline metric, producing a much larger aggregate number. The DHS messaging is tied to policy milestones and public relations goals and typically appears in end-of-year or campaign-timed releases; these statements present aggregate tallies that are not always comparable to ICE’s line-by-line removal counts [1] [5].
2. ICE’s Published Data and the “Locked” FY2025 Problem
ICE’s own enforcement and removal operations data show that historical datasets were complete only up to December 31, 2024 in many public tables, and ICE described FY2025 data as not finalized or “locked” at various points in 2025, meaning official fiscal-year totals were not available for independent verification at those times [4] [7]. Independent projects that compile deportation data reported partial tallies—one project reported about 528,000 removals as of late July 2025—but explicitly noted these numbers did not cover the entire FY2025 timeframe [3]. The distinction between provisional tallies and final counts is crucial because ongoing case closures, appeals, and data reconciliation can materially change published totals.
3. The “Self-Deportation” Factor and How It Inflates Headlines
Several administration claims include large numbers labeled as “self-deportations” or voluntary departures, often presented alongside formal ICE removals to produce totals like two million people out of the country [5] [2]. These voluntary departures are not the same as ICE removals: they can include people who left under varied pressures, Title 42 expulsions, inadmissible encounters at ports of entry, or other DHS processes that are not single-source ICE deportations. Combining these categories without clear attribution produces apples-to-oranges totals that inflate perceived ICE removal performance versus what ICE’s enforcement records alone would show [5] [2].
4. Independent Compilations, Timing, and Methodological Gaps
Third-party compilations and media summaries have produced intermediate estimates—some citing roughly 400,000 formal removals by September 2025, with additional voluntary departures bringing totals higher [2] [3]. These compilations rely on press releases, DHS briefings, and partial ICE tables; they often caution about incomplete reporting windows and differing definitions. Where DHS releases aggregated tallies quickly, outside researchers have flagged a lack of transparent methodology and source breakdowns, making it difficult to reconcile headline claims with case-level removal records. The result is a landscape where multiple plausible numbers coexist, tied to differing definitions and reporting cutoffs [6] [3].
5. Bottom Line: What Can Be Stated as Fact and What Remains Unresolved
Factually, public DHS and allied administration releases assert hundreds of thousands of removals in FY2025, and some communications aggregate voluntary departures to claim over two million people left the United States over months in 2025 [1] [5]. Independent datasets and ICE’s official tables indicate partial removal tallies around 528,000 by mid-2025 but emphasize that FY2025 totals were not finalized and that “removed” vs. “self-deported” are distinct categories [3] [4]. The unresolved elements are the final, reconciled FY2025 ICE removal count, the exact composition of administration “aggregate” figures, and the transparent methodology behind voluntary-departure tallies. To reach a definitive number, wait for ICE’s finalized, locked FY2025 Enforcement and Removal Operations tables and for DHS to publish a clear breakdown of categories that went into its aggregated totals [4] [6] [5].