Fact check: How many deportations did Obama carry out.

1. Summary of the results

Based on the analyses provided, President Obama carried out between 2.4 and 3.1 million deportations during his eight years in office, making him the president with the highest number of deportations in U.S. history. The specific numbers vary slightly across sources:

• Over 2.5 million people were removed through immigration orders between 2009 and 2015 ^[1]
• More than 3.1 million ICE deportations were logged throughout Obama's eight years in office ^[2]
• Over 2.8 million undocumented immigrants were deported over the last eight years ^[3]
• More than 2.7 million deportations occurred during Obama's presidency ^[4]
• More than 2.4 million people were deported, nearly as many as his two predecessors combined ^[5]

The peak deportation year was fiscal year 2012, when more than 407,000 people were removed ^[2], with another source citing 410,000 removals as the highest deportation level reported by ICE ^[6].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

The original question lacks several important contextual elements that emerge from the analyses:

• Historical comparison: Obama deported more people than any other president in U.S. history, with the number being nearly equal to his two predecessors combined ^[5]
• Policy approach: The Obama administration "aggressively enforced current laws" rather than creating new deportation policies ^[5]
• Legacy implications: Obama earned the nickname "Deporter in chief" and left behind what some consider a "tainted legacy on immigration" ^[3]
• Temporal context: The deportations occurred over eight years, with significant year-to-year variation, including a peak in 2012 and 316,000 deportations in fiscal year 2014 ^[6]

Immigration advocacy organizations and civil rights groups would benefit from emphasizing these high deportation numbers to critique Obama's immigration record, while Obama supporters might benefit from contextualizing these numbers within existing legal frameworks rather than new policy initiatives.

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original question itself is neutral and factual, simply asking for deportation numbers. However, the framing lacks context that could lead to incomplete understanding:

• The question doesn't specify whether it's asking about total deportations, annual averages, or peak years
• It omits the historical significance of Obama's deportation numbers compared to other presidents
• The question doesn't distinguish between different types of removals or deportation mechanisms
• It lacks temporal context about how deportations varied throughout Obama's presidency, missing the significant peak in 2012 when over 400,000 people were removed ^{[2] [6]}

The analyses consistently show that Obama's deportation record was record-breaking in scale, which is crucial context missing from the simple numerical question posed.