How many deportations under trump
Executive summary
The answer depends on which Trump presidency and which metric are being cited: during Donald Trump’s first term (2017–2021) commonly cited tallies put removals at roughly 1.5 million over four years (an MPI comparison) while in his second term to date the Department of Homeland Security and ICE have claimed hundreds of thousands of removals and self‑deportations but independent trackers give much lower removal counts [1] [2] [3].
1. What “deportations” can mean — removals vs. voluntary exits
Counting “deportations” is not straightforward because federal statements and press releases often aggregate legal removals (formal ICE/CBP removals) with voluntary returns or “self‑deportations,” and DHS public messaging since 2025 has repeatedly mixed those categories — for example DHS press releases touting “more than 2.5 million illegal aliens left the U.S.” explicitly break that into roughly 605,000 deportations plus 1.9 million self‑deportations [2], and other DHS releases repeat a similar split with different headline totals [4] [5].
2. The first Trump presidency: commonly cited four‑year total
Analysts who compared presidential eras reported that the Biden administration (through early 2024) was on pace to match the roughly 1.5 million deportations that occurred during Trump’s first four years in office; the Migration Policy Institute framed the comparison by stating that Trump’s four‑year removals totaled about 1.5 million [1]. Other outlets highlight that deportations fell from some prior peaks during Trump’s first term, complicating simple narratives that “Trump deported vastly more” [6].
3. The second Trump presidency: administration claims vs. independent counts
Since January 2025 the Trump White House and DHS have issued high cumulative figures in rapid succession — examples include DHS claims of 139,000 deportations early in the term (White House summary), over 65,000 removals in the first 100 days reported by ICE, and milestone statements of more than 400,000–675,000 deportations embedded in larger “millions out” tallies that again combine voluntary departures with removals [7] [8] [4] [5]. Independent data aggregators have pushed back: TRAC, which analyzes ICE published removal series, reported totals of roughly 290,603 removals during the Trump administration to date after reconciling fiscal year boundaries and noting that some early FY‑2025 figures were Biden era [3].
4. Why the numbers diverge — reporting periods, categories, and incentives
Divergences arise because DHS and ICE often present cumulative “left the country” framing that suits enforcement narratives and includes voluntary returns, while independent researchers (MPI, TRAC) parse the semi‑monthly removal series, fiscal year cutoffs, and whether border expulsions are counted as “deportations”; TRAC’s methodological unpacking shows how shifting baselines and partial fiscal‑year reporting can change the headline number substantially [3] [9] [1]. Watch for implicit agendas: DHS and White House releases are political communications that emphasize total departures and criminal removals, whereas analyst groups stress methodological consistency and separation of removals from voluntary returns [2] [3] [1].
5. Bottom line: a concise answer with caveats
If “how many deportations under Trump” means removals during his first four‑year presidency, a commonly cited figure is about 1.5 million removals over that period [1]; if it means removals since January 2025, DHS/ICE messaging claims hundreds of thousands of removals (and millions of total departures when voluntary returns are included) while independent tracking (TRAC) places removals in the hundreds of thousands but lower than some agency headlines — roughly 290,603 by their aggregation at the time of reporting [2] [4] [3]. Any definitive single number requires specifying which Trump term, which months or fiscal years, and whether voluntary returns are being counted alongside formal removals [1] [2] [3].