Number of deportations under each president
Executive summary
Official tallies of U.S. deportations vary by administration and by how “deportation” is defined — removals (formal deportations), returns/administrative returns, and expulsions (Title 42-era expulsions) are often grouped or separated in different datasets — but the broad picture from recent reporting is that George W. Bush’s two terms saw roughly 2 million removals, Barack Obama’s administration about 3 million removals, the Biden administration oversaw roughly 4.4 million repatriations when expulsions are included, and the returning Trump administration’s first year has been reported in different sources as roughly 540,000–600,000 to date with alternative estimates splitting interior and border removals [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. How “deportation” is being counted — removals, returns and expulsions
Numbers shift depending on whether one counts only removals (formal deportations), administrative returns, or Title 42 expulsions; Migration Policy’s aggregation treats removals plus expulsions and other repatriation actions as “repatriations,” which is why it reports nearly 4.4 million repatriations under the Biden administration through FY2024, largely because the pandemic-era Title 42 expulsions (about 3 million between March 2020 and May 2023) are included [3].
2. Bush and Obama: the historical baseline
Academic and government summaries place George W. Bush’s two terms at roughly 2 million removals and Barack Obama’s administration at about 3 million removals — figures cited by UC Davis and the Cato commentary and reflected in historical DHS yearbook tables that separate removals and returns [1] [2] [6].
3. Biden: highest repatriations once expulsions are included
Migration Policy concludes that when formal deportations are combined with Title 42 expulsions and other administrative returns, the Biden administration’s repatriations total nearly 4.4 million through FY2024, driven largely by the roughly 3 million Title 42 expulsions that occurred during the pandemic and mostly under Biden [3]. Migration Policy and DHS data structure their comparisons by fiscal year to make cross‑administration comparisons possible, but that methodology affects attribution across administrations [3].
4. Trump (second term): contested tallies and interior vs. border removals
Recent reporting shows divergent pictures of deportations under President Trump’s return: The New York Times analyzed federal data and reported about 230,000 deportations of people arrested inside the country and about 270,000 at the border over the past year — roughly 500,000 combined, and it noted differing counting conventions and incomplete published breakdowns from DHS [4]. The Department of Homeland Security publicly claimed the administration was on pace to deport nearly 600,000 people in its first year back, a figure used in official statements [5]. Independent trackers and advocacy groups such as TRAC and The Guardian continue to highlight gaps or delays in ICE/Cbp public data releases that complicate exact comparisons [7] [8].
5. Why comparisons are imperfect — methodology, agency silos, and political narratives
All sources warn that comparing presidents by “number of deportations” without unpacking removals versus returns versus expulsions can mislead: DHS yearbook tables, ICE and CBP operational breakdowns, and third‑party analyses use different definitions and fiscal-year attributions, and recent administrations have alternately publicized or withheld granular enforcement data — an effect noted by Migration Policy, TRAC, The New York Times and Guardian reporting [3] [7] [4] [8]. Where sources disagree, the divergence often tracks institutional transparency choices and political incentives: administrations inclined to emphasize enforcement may publicize headline totals, while analysts emphasize methodological consistency over time [4] [7].
Conclusion: the best defensible headline and the limits of certainty
The best defensible headline from the available reporting is that Bush -> ~2 million removals (two terms), Obama -> ~3 million removals, Biden -> ~4.4 million repatriations when expulsions are counted, and Trump (returning) -> roughly 500,000–600,000 repatriations/deportations in the first year depending on which internal or public dataset is used; however, each of these numbers rests on differing counting rules and time‑attribution choices, and several reputable trackers note ongoing gaps in published agency data that prevent a single undisputed tally [1] [2] [3] [4] [5].