Who deported more illegal immigrants trump, biden or obama
Executive summary
Joe Biden’s term has recorded the largest raw number of repatriations and returns when counting expulsions and administrative returns, but those totals reflect a different mix of “returns/expulsions” (including Title 42-era removals) than the formal “removals” counted in prior administrations; Barack Obama still registers as the president with the highest number of formal removals across an entire presidency, and Donald Trump’s first term deportation totals were smaller than Obama’s and, by most standard measures, also smaller than Biden’s cumulative repatriations once returns are included [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. How the numbers break down and why they don’t compare cleanly
Official tallies are not apples-to-apples: government statistics and reporting outlets distinguish “removals” (formal deportation orders), “returns” or “expulsions” (voluntary or summary departures), and Title 42 public‑health expulsions, and modern administrations have used different mixes of these tools — Biden’s era features a large number of returns and expulsions negotiated with foreign governments, boosting his raw repatriation totals [1] [2] [3].
2. Obama: the modern-era peak in formal removals
Across Barack Obama’s two terms the Obama administration carried out millions of formal removals and repatriations, producing what analysts have long labeled the modern-era peak for removals; academic and policy analyses place Obama’s totals above those of Trump and characterise Obama as the highest “deporter” in recent history when counting removals over 2009–2016 [4] [2].
3. Biden: the largest cumulative repatriations, driven by expulsions and returns
Joe Biden’s administration — particularly in 2021–24 — oversaw an unusually large number of repatriations and returns, with outlets and DHS data showing several million people repatriated or expelled during the period and 2024 removals reaching a 10‑year high; Migration Policy notes that Biden has been described as a “returner‑in‑chief” because most of his recorded departures are returns/administrative departures rather than formal removals [1] [3] [2].
4. Trump: high visibility but smaller totals than Obama and (depending on counting) Biden
Donald Trump campaigned on mass deportations and prioritized enforcement, but his first‑term monthly and annual removal totals did not surpass Obama’s peak levels and, by several count methods, were lower overall than Obama’s totals; some reporting shows Trump’s removals and returns combined during his first term were less than comparable Obama years and that Biden’s cumulative repatriations through 2024 exceeded Trump’s first‑term totals [5] [6] [2].
5. The politics of counting: narratives versus statistics
Partisan messaging often treats “deported” as a single, politically useful number while obscuring methodology — Democrats and immigration critics stress that Biden used Title 42 expulsions and negotiated returns (a faster, border‑focused approach), whereas Republicans emphasize interior removals and criminal‑case removals to argue tougher enforcement; independent analysts warn that conflating returns/expulsions with formal removals produces misleading claims about who “deported more” [1] [6] [7].
6. Answer, plainly stated with caveats
If the question seeks the largest raw count of people repatriated or sent back during a presidency including expulsions and administrative returns, Joe Biden’s administration recorded higher cumulative repatriation/return totals through 2024 than the Trump administration and higher than any single recent presidency [2] [3] [1]. If the question restricts itself to formal removals (deportation orders issued and executed) over a full presidency, Barack Obama’s two terms remain the largest in the modern era; Donald Trump’s first term falls below Obama on that metric and below Biden on cumulative repatriations when returns/expulsions are included [4] [5] [2]. Reporting and political claims often conflate these categories, so the verdict depends on which counting method the questioner intends [1] [6].