How many eoropeans where deported under trump?

Checked on January 22, 2026
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Executive summary

Official tallies from the Trump administration and major outlets put total removals during his return to office in the hundreds of thousands, but none of the provided reporting supplies a comprehensive, verifiable count of deportees who were citizens of European countries — the only specific Europe-related figure in the material is that roughly 800 Europeans were reported as being considered for transfer to Guantánamo Bay [1], while DHS and news analyses report overall deportation totals in the 500,000-range [2] [3].

1. What the reporting actually quantifies: aggregate removals, not continent-of-origin breakdowns

Government and major news reporting in 2025–2026 emphasize aggregate removal totals — for example, DHS announced more than 527,000 removals under the administration’s recent campaign [2], and The New York Times analyzed roughly 230,000 interior arrests plus about 270,000 border removals in a recent period [3] — but these sources do not publish a clear, public breakdown that isolates “Europeans” as a distinct category within those totals [2] [3].

2. The lone Europe-specific number in the files: 800 Europeans flagged for Guantánamo transfer

The single explicit Europe-related figure in the provided material is the Politico/Wikipedia reporting that plans to send thousands to Guantánamo Bay reportedly included about 800 Europeans among those considered for transfer, a planning-stage number rather than a confirmed deportation tally [1].

3. Third‑country removals complicate nationality accounting

Multiple watchdogs and legal groups documented the administration’s expansion of “third‑country” removals — deporting or attempting to deport people to states with which they had little connection, including war‑torn countries like South Sudan and Libya — a practice that makes straightforward counts by national origin harder because destinations and formal nationality can diverge in official records [4] [1].

4. Why public totals don’t answer the “how many Europeans” question

The available reporting shows an administration focused on dramatically increasing removals and using novel pathways (detention spikes, third‑country removals, expedited processes), but neither DHS public statements nor independent analyses provided in the packet include a reliable, public dataset enumerating removals by European nationality — a data gap that prevents an authoritative numeric answer about Europeans specifically [2] [3] [5].

5. Competing interpretations and possible agenda‑driven framing

Advocacy groups and think tanks frame the surge as a politically driven “mass deportation” campaign and highlight human‑rights risks [6] [4], while DHS messaging emphasizes record removals and voluntary departures to portray enforcement success [2]; both sides have incentives to emphasize or obscure nationality breakdowns, and reporting such as the pulled “60 Minutes” segment underscores editorial contention about how the stories are presented [7].

6. Court challenges and the legal fog around removals

Federal courts have been actively litigating the administration’s practices — judges have sharply criticized targeted deportation programs and procedural shortcuts — adding legal uncertainty that can delay or obscure official reporting and make post‑hoc counting more fraught [8].

7. Bottom line for the question asked

Based on the documents provided, there is no comprehensive, sourced count of how many deportees were citizens of European countries; the only explicit Europe‑specific figure available in this packet is that about 800 Europeans were reported as considered for transfer to Guantánamo Bay in planning documents or reporting [1], while aggregate removal figures run in the hundreds of thousands [2] [3]. Any definitive answer about total Europeans deported under the administration is not available in the supplied reporting and would require access to detailed DHS nationality breakdowns or independent datasets not included here [2] [3].

Want to dive deeper?
How many deportations by country of citizenship has DHS reported for FY2025–FY2026?
What are documented cases of third‑country removals and their destinations under the Trump administration?
Which courts have issued rulings limiting the Trump administration’s deportation practices and what did those rulings say?