Donald Trump is revving up mass deportation of undocumented migrants, recently forcing a reluctant Colombia to back down on accepting deportees. But is Trump really the deportation czar that he claims to be?
How does he stack up against two other recent US presidents?
Joe Biden (2021-2025)
Approximately 1.1 million individuals were deported by ICE from the beginning of fiscal year 2021 through February 2024
Deportations by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) soared to a 10-year record of over 271,000 individuals in fiscal year 2024, according to a government report, surpassing the Trump-era high of 267,000 (in 2019)
Around 82% of those deported in 2024 were apprehended at the US-Mexico border
Screenshot of chart showing data on migrant deportations in US.
© Photo : TRAC /Syracuse University
Donald Trump (2017-2021)
≈800,000 deportations in the first three years 186,000 deportations in 2021 one million deportations give or take, in total, according to the Migration Policy Institute
Barack Obama (two terms, 2009-2017)
≈1.18 million in the first three years (2009-2011), according to ICE data
Peak of 409,849 in 2012