What was the annual breakdown of removals, returns, and voluntary departures during the Obama presidency (fiscal years 2009–2016)?
Executive summary
Official DHS-derived reporting and independent analysts agree that the Obama administration carried out very high numbers of formal removals in fiscal years (FY) 2009–2016 — roughly 2.7–2.75 million removals across the eight fiscal years — but public sources diverge on precise counts and on annual figures for returns and voluntary departures, which are not comprehensively published in the supplied reporting [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. Annual formal removals (FY2009–FY2016): the year-by-year totals reported
Detailed year-by-year counts for “formal removals” drawn from DHS-based compilations show the following fiscal-year totals: FY2009 — 389,834; FY2010 — 392,862; FY2011 — 396,906; FY2012 — 409,849; FY2013 — 368,644; FY2014 — 315,943; FY2015 — 235,413; FY2016 — 240,255, which sum to roughly 2.75 million formal removals over the eight-year span and match independent tabulations cited by multiple analysts [2] [5].
2. What "removals" means here and why totals differ across sources
“Removals” in DHS yearbooks and the analyses cited include formal removals (orders executed by DHS/ICE) and categories such as expedited removal and reinstatement of removal; some reporters and organizations report a 2.7–2.75 million figure while others — using slightly different inclusions or aggregation methods — report totals above 3 million or as low as 2.4 million, reflecting methodological differences in counting border apprehensions, returns and other case types [1] [4] [6].
3. Interior versus border removals: a major shift during Obama years
The administration reoriented enforcement toward recent border crossers and criminal noncitizens: interior removals fell from about 181,798 in FY2009 to 65,332 in FY2016, while border removals rose from roughly 207,525 to 279,022 over the same interval, illustrating a substantial operational shift from interior “status violators” to border and criminal enforcement [7].
4. Returns and voluntary departures: period totals and reporting limits
Available public summaries indicate that when returns and voluntary departures are added to formal removals, the total number of departures during 2009–2016 exceeds 5 million according to consolidated DHS-based accounting referenced by fact-checkers, but the supplied reporting does not provide a consistent, source-backed annual breakdown of returns and voluntary departures for each fiscal year [4].
5. Due-process and procedural composition of removals
A large share of formal removals during these years were expedited procedures that do not involve an immigration judge: expedited removals and reinstatements grew from 58% of removals in 2009 to roughly the low-80s percent range by the mid‑2010s, averaging about three‑quarters of removals across the period — a compositional shift with implications for access to hearings and counsel [4].
6. Reconciling competing narratives and hidden agendas in the sources
Advocacy groups, DHS press releases and think tanks emphasize different facts: DHS and allies stressed criminal‑alien removals and record enforcement statistics [8], immigrant‑rights advocates highlighted high volumes and rushed procedures for asylum‑seekers [1] [3], and some analysts flag historical counting changes that complicate comparisons across presidencies [9] [6]. These divergent emphases reflect institutional incentives — agencies to present enforcement as targeted and robust, advocates to foreground humanitarian harms, and outside analysts to standardize counts for comparisons [8] [1] [9].
7. Bottom line and limits of available reporting
The best-supported, year-by-year figures for formal removals FY2009–FY2016 are the eight annual totals cited above that sum to ≈2.75 million removals [2]; returns and voluntary departures raise the period total of departures to well over 5 million according to DHS-based summaries, but the supplied sources do not provide a consistently sourced annual breakdown of returns and voluntary departures for each fiscal year, so detailed per-year splits for those categories cannot be asserted from the provided reporting [4] [3].