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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Wednesday that just over 28,000 deportations were carried out in the first seven weeks of the Trump administration, after several weeks without official data updates.
The agency told Newsweek that it had removed 28,319 people from the U.S. interior between January 20 and March 11, averaging to around 3,887 per week, or 555 a day. When the figure is taken as just those immigrants detained by ICE agents, Trump would be outpacing Biden's removal numbers.
However, ICE has generally been responsible for removing those detained at the border, also. If the latest numbers include border removals, then the new administration is falling behind a weekly average of about 5,000 last year.
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"The more data we have when it comes to immigration numbers, including arrests and removals of aliens unlawfully present in the United States, the better," Eric Ruark, director of research and sustainability at NumbersUSA, told Newsweek. "That being said, ICE's efforts right now should be on arrests and removals from the interior of the country. The numbers will follow in due course."
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Deportation Numbers Harder to Come By
Tracking removal data has been difficult since President Donald Trump returned to the White House on a promise of mass deportations. Both his "border czar" and secretary of Homeland Security have boasted that removals are happening, but government websites and press releases have not included removal numbers.
Until January 20, immigration data on government websites was updated frequently. That practice appears to have ended under the Trump administration.
ICE, the agency responsible for the majority of deportations, used to put out updates roughly every two weeks on how many people had been flown out of the country, and to where.
Those updates dried up once Trump took office. As have the monthly updates posted on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) statistics website. ICE's own dashboard on arrests, detentions, and removals does not appear to have changed since November.
An ICE official told Newsweek Tuesday that the agency was still compiling and validating data to give more accurate monthly updates.
"I think part of the issue is that the Trump administration doesn't like the data that's being produced, meaning lots of arrests and detentions and few deportations," David Hernández, a professor of Latinx studies, critical race and political economy at Mount Holyoke College, told Newsweek.
"That's because, like last time, he goes after persons who aren't easily deportable and that have personal and often legal reasons to stay."
While there have been high-profile removal flights, such as those to El Salvador earlier this week, the administration has been more vague when asked for definitive numbers. In its promotion of immigration and other policy "wins", deportation numbers have been notably absent.
"The administration quickly releases data when it is pleased with the data," Professor Kevin R. Johnson, dean of the UC Davis School of Law, told Newsweek. "President Trump had expressed concern with what he sees as low removal numbers. Border Czar Tom Homan has expressed similar concerns. My instinct is that the numbers are not pleasing to the administration, and it is limiting access to the numbers."
Just over two weeks into the Trump administration, DHS shared a video on social media highlighting ICE actions that included 5,693 total removals since January 20. An official later said these were solely those arrested by ICE, rather than at the border, meaning the new administration was outpacing its predecessor.
"Note that for the data we have seen, it does not seem that the Trump administration will hit the 4 million removal number that President Obama hit," Johnson said. "The administration probably wants to keep the story about the deportation of alleged gang members in the news."
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On Tuesday, Newsweek asked DHS how many people had been removed or deported since January 20, how many people had self-deported already using the CBP Home app, and why public data had not been updated since before the Trump administration.
We also asked how this administration would be more transparent than President Biden's, following claims the previous administration "cooked the books" and presented misleading data on immigration.
DHS did not provide a statement addressing these questions, instead offering arrest figure of 92,773 between ICE and CBP collectively.
The ICE official who did provide data on Wednesday said the agency arrests immigrants who have committed crimes or violated immigration laws.
"All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States, regardless of nationality," the spokesperson said.
Voters Want Deportation Numbers
While ICE has a recorded history of being somewhat translucent on data, regular deportation numbers are something Republican voters are pleading for, having voted for the removal of millions of illegal immigrants.
Over on social media, the Trump administration has shared videos and images of those it has detained, mainly known criminals who are now either in U.S. custody or headed out of the country.
These posts, along with those from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem following visits with federal agents at the border or carrying out immigration enforcement, frequently see replies from voters saying they want to hear about bigger numbers and not see promotional videos or photo ops.
"The problem with the focus on "mass deportations" is that the term is undefined, and it distracts from the real matter at hand --what will be the long-term effects of enforcement efforts in President Trump's second term?" Ruark told Newsweek. "The true test of that will be how many illegal immigrants exit the country.
"While a lot of attention is being paid to individuals arrested and put into removal proceedings, the administration is sending a powerful signal that it is committed to immigration law enforcement. Voluntary departures and so-called self-deportations will add to the numbers who return to their home countries."
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Hernández told Newsweek he believed there is "a certain amount of incompetence and dishonesty at work", pointing to the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian protestor and grad student at Columbia University. Agents initially told him his student visa had been revoked, when he is a legal permanent resident with a Green Card.
"My biggest fear is that they do just that—present fake statistics to the American people," the professor added. "This can happen in more than immigration and include weather and climate change data, economic indicators, savings from DOGE, etc."
While Biden did not make deportation a feature of his presidency, removal numbers did increase as illegal border crossings also rose, with more of those deported coming directly from border patrol arrests.
Prior to Trump's first term, the Obama administration also oversaw high deportation levels, which the current White House resident will likely want to beat.
"Although President Obama did not like being dubbed the Deporter-in-Chief, President Trump would revel in the title," Johnson told Newsweek. "He no doubt wants the highest deportation numbers ever."
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