How many people were deported from the U.S. in the last decade and what were their countries of origin?
Executive summary
Public sources do not provide a single, authoritative tally of "deportation-policies">how many people were deported in the last decade" in one neat number, because agencies use multiple overlapping categories (removals, returns, repatriations, expulsions) and reporting practices changed across administrations; authoritative raw files that would allow an exact decade-long sum exist but must be assembled from DHS/ICE releases and third‑party archives (for example, the Deportation Data Project has ICE’s raw enforcement files through 2012–2023) [1] [2]. What is clear from DHS, ICE and independent analyses is that removals over recent years remain concentrated among nationals of Mexico and Central American countries, with growing shares from farther afield in some recent years, and that annual counts vary wildly depending on whether one counts formal "removals" alone or broader "repatriations/expulsions" [3] [4] [5].
1. Why an exact decade total is elusive: definitions, data breaks and sources
Federal statistics separate "removals" (formal deportations), "returns" or "repatriations" (which can include expedited expulsions or Title 42‑style removals), and administrative changes in data collection over the last decade make a single summed figure unreliable without re‑aggregation of year‑by‑year microdata; DHS/OHSS maintains monthly and yearbook tables but notes revisions and new fields across FYs, while ICE publishes summary statistics and also classifies detainees by criminal history and other categories [2] [3]. Independent projects and trackers—Mapping Deportations and the Deportation Data Project—compile and normalize raw files precisely because agency summaries are fragmented [6] [1]. Any credible "last decade" total therefore requires assembling those underlying datasets rather than citing a single web page.
2. Directional totals and trends that can be stated with confidence
Using available public reporting and compiled datasets, the U.S. removed or returned millions of noncitizens across the 2000s and 2010s (for example, 4.6 million removals were reported between 2003 and 2018 in a public compilation) and recent annual measures remain large though variable—note that some analysts report more than a million “repatriations” in 2023 alone, reflecting broad definitions that include expulsions and returns [7] [5]. Interior removals (deportations from U.S. communities rather than border returns) fell substantially after the Obama administration’s early surge, dropped further under the Trump administration, and have been lower under Biden when counted in traditional interior‑removal terms, even as returns at the border rose in some years [8] [9].
3. Countries of origin: who comprises the bulk of deportees
Across the datasets and yearbooks, Mexico consistently ranks as the top country of origin for removals, followed by countries in northern Central America—Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador—with those nations historically comprising the majority share of formal deportations and returns; recent years show an increasing share of nationals from more distant countries as border encounter profiles shift [4] [10] [6]. Migration Policy Institute and ICE reporting note that by FY2023 authorities were deporting or returning noncitizens to more than 170 countries, but Mexico remained the single largest origin country even as its share of the total unauthorized population and of removals declined from highs in past decades [9] [4].
4. Competing narratives and hidden agendas in reported numbers
Advocates, academics and agency spokespeople diverge on what counts as a "deportation"—advocacy groups emphasize interior removals and the human impact of formal orders, while some agency or policy narratives emphasize high repatriation counts at the border to suggest robust enforcement; third‑party datasets exist in part to neutralize these semantic differences and reveal year‑by‑year totals [1] [6]. Media summaries that present a headline "X deported in Y years" often conflate removals, voluntary departures and expulsions; readers should be aware that political actors on both sides benefit from framing that number as either proof of enforcement success or of mass removal policy [5] [8].
5. Where to get a defensible decade tally and country breakdowns
To produce a precise count for a specific ten‑year window, the only defensible path is to aggregate DHS/OHSS yearbook and monthly tables and ICE removal files (and to decide up front whether to include only formal "removals" or to add "returns/repatriations"); those primary sources—DHS/OHSS tables, the ICE statistics pages, and compiled raw files like the Deportation Data Project—are the building blocks for an auditable decade total and country‑of‑origin breakdown [2] [3] [1]. The public evidence already identifies Mexico and northern Central America as the dominant origin countries across the last decade, with growing representation from many other nations in recent years [4] [10].