Who many people where deported under obmoa adm with out due process
Executive summary
The Obama administration oversaw roughly 3 million formal removals during his two terms, but there is no single authoritative figure—across reporting and advocacy sources—pinning down exactly how many of those people were deported "without due process;" estimates depend on how "due process" and removal types are defined (administrative removals, reinstatements, expedited removals, etc.) [1]. Advocates and watchdogs point to very large shares of removals that bypassed full immigration‑court hearings—figures cited in reporting range from about 39 percent in some DHS‑linked counts for 2012 up to claims that roughly three‑quarters of people were routed through fast‑track processes—while academic and government analyses emphasize differences in removal categories and priorities [2] [3] [4].
1. How many removals in total under Obama — the baseline number
The most commonly cited baseline is that President Obama’s administration executed nearly 3 million formal removals across his presidency, a total that fuels debates about scope and intent even as historians and policy shops note that these removals reflected a shift toward targeting recent border crossers and people with criminal records rather than a simple drive to maximize raw numbers [1] [4].
2. What “without due process” means in the available reporting
Different sources use different definitions: advocacy groups focus on administrative and expedited channels that do not involve a full immigration‑court hearing or a hearing before an immigration judge, such as expedited removal at the border, reinstatement of prior orders, stipulated removals, and similar summary procedures; government yearbooks and policy analyses split removals into “returns” and formal “removals,” and do not always map cleanly to civil‑procedure standards referenced by advocates [2] [4].
3. Conservative, government‑linked counts: the 39 percent snapshot
A report referenced by multiple outlets notes that in 2012 “removals accounted for 39 percent of all deportations,” and other DHS‑linked statistics showed large volumes of removals processed outside full adjudication—for example, reinstatements and expedited channels that can result in people leaving without a judge’s hearing [2]. That 39 percent figure is a snapshot tied to particular removal categories in that year and should not be conflated with the entire eight‑year period without careful disaggregation [2].
4. Advocacy and watchdog claims: the three‑quarters and “fast‑track” framing
Civil‑liberties groups such as the ACLU have argued the Obama years prioritized “speed over fairness,” claiming that around 75 percent of people were processed through fast‑track or streamlined procedures that denied individualized hearings before judges—an assertion repeated in state ACLU offices and campaign materials to emphasize systemic due‑process concerns [3] [5]. Human Rights Watch and AFL‑CIO criticisms echoed this pattern, documenting expedited deportations of asylum seekers and family units and arguing the executive actions did not fix summary‑removal pathways [6] [7].
5. Disputes, definitions, and why estimates diverge
The divergence in numbers reflects underlying definitional and data issues: government counts differentiate formal removals, voluntary departures, returns, and administrative processes; advocacy groups collapse categories to highlight people never seen by immigration judges; investigative reporters and TRAC note that many deportations labeled “criminal” involved minor offenses like traffic violations, complicating claims that removals targeted only serious threats [4] [8]. Consequently, one can accurately say millions were removed under Obama and that a substantial share were removed via non‑judicial or expedited paths, but cannot, on the basis of the provided sources alone, produce a single uncontested headcount of how many people were deported “without due process” across the whole presidency [1] [3] [8].
6. Bottom line and what the sources permit reporting
The best synthesis of the available reporting: roughly 3 million formal removals occurred under Obama [1]; in certain years substantial fractions—one widely cited figure is 39 percent for 2012 in specific removal categories—left through administrative or expedited channels [2]; advocacy groups and watchdogs argue the share routed through fast‑track procedures was far higher (up to about 75 percent), highlighting systemic due‑process concerns [3] [5]. The precise total of people deported "without due process" over the full Obama presidency cannot be definitively calculated from the supplied sources because of differing definitions, year‑to‑year variation, and category reporting differences [4] [2] [3].