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Fact check: How many veterans were deported under the Obama administration compared to Trump?
Executive Summary
The available reporting shows no authoritative, comprehensive count directly comparing the number of U.S. veterans deported under President Obama versus President Trump; public records provide partial figures for different periods and categories but leave major gaps. The most concrete published data in this packet finds at least 92 veterans deported and roughly 250 placed in removal proceedings across 2013–2018, while broader Obama-era deportation totals cite millions of removals and tens of thousands of lawful permanent residents deported in single years, not veterans specifically [1] [2] [3].
1. What advocates and journalists are claiming — veterans swept into deportations
Reporting and advocacy pieces emphasize that noncitizen veterans face deportation risks and contain vivid individual cases to illustrate the problem, but they stop short of producing comprehensive comparative counts. Articles profiling veterans such as Julio Torres and David Bariu document individual deportations and fear among service members, framing the issue as systemic and urgent [4] [5]. These accounts underpin legislative pressure and congressional inquiries but do not provide a consistent statistical baseline that would allow a direct, apples‑to‑apples comparison between the Obama and Trump administrations [4].
2. The most concrete government‑era figures reported here — a narrow sample
A federal report summarized in the packet finds at least 250 veterans entered removal proceedings between 2013 and 2018, and at least 92 were ultimately deported; those figures are the clearest numbers available in these sources for the period that spans late Obama and early Trump years [1]. These counts are limited by scope — the 2013–2018 window crosses administrations and does not isolate actions solely under one president — and the report explicitly acknowledges incomplete public data, meaning these are minimum confirmed totals rather than exhaustive counts [1].
3. Broader deportation context under Obama — high overall removals, but few veteran‑specific totals
The Obama administration deportation totals cited in these materials present large aggregate numbers — more than two million removals over the administration and more than 20,000 lawful permanent residents deported in at least one year — but they do not disaggregate how many of those were veterans [2] [3]. Reporting of individual veteran deportations during Obama’s presidency exists, including cases like Navy veteran Howard Dean Bailey, yet these are anecdotal within datasets that do not single out veterans as a tracked demographic in public deportation tallies [3].
4. Policy changes, reprieves, and their limits — administrative rules matter
The Obama administration issued a 2013 policy that created immigration reprieves for certain relatives of active military personnel and veterans, indicating an attempt to shield some military‑connected individuals from removal even while overall deportation totals remained high [6]. This policy change complicates comparisons: administrative priorities, prosecutorial discretion guidance, and programmatic reprieves affect who is placed in proceedings, making raw removal counts an imperfect measure of an administration’s treatment of veterans without deeper breakdowns by status and policy application [6].
5. The Trump era reporting and congressional scrutiny through 2025 — rising concern and requests for data
Sources show intensified scrutiny and congressional questions about veteran deportations under the Trump administration, including letters demanding counts of veterans currently facing removal and deported since January 20, 2025, and reporting that highlights veterans facing proceedings or return to countries of origin [7] [4]. Journalistic investigations published in 2025 reiterate at least 92 deportations confirmed through 2018 and broader anecdotal reporting of veterans impacted under Trump-era enforcement, but comprehensive, administratively released veteran‑specific totals remain absent [1] [4].
6. Why direct comparison remains unresolvable with available data
A direct numeric comparison is not currently possible because public records and reporting in this packet either provide aggregate deportation totals without veteran breakdowns (Obama-era aggregates) or limited veteran‑specific snapshots spanning cross‑administration windows (federal report covering 2013–2018). Differences in data collection practices, lack of a named “veteran” category in some enforcement datasets, and shifting prosecutorial priorities mean that the documents here cannot produce a definitive Obama‑vs‑Trump veteran deportation tally [2] [1].
7. What to watch next and what policymakers are asking for
Congressional requests and bipartisan bill proposals indicate ongoing demand for disaggregated government data on servicemembers and veterans in removal proceedings and deported since specific dates, and advocates seek statutory solutions to allow deported veterans to apply for lawful status [7] [4]. The most useful future developments for resolving this question would be an official Department of Homeland Security or Department of Justice release that explicitly tabulates removals and proceedings by veteran/military service status and by administration, which would allow a clear, data‑driven comparison.