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Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026

Did Obama deport more people at the start of his second term than Trump did during his?

Brian Arola, MinnPost
yes

The Obama administration oversaw more deportations in 2013 than the Trump administration did in 2025, though their methods were starkly different.

There were 612,706 total deportations in 2013, the first year of President Barack Obama’s second term. Over the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, his administration deported 540,000 people. 

Trump’s total includes far more deportations of people who were arrested inside the United States, a reflection of his enforcement surge targeted at Minnesota and other states. Under Obama – sometimes called the “Deporter in Chief” by immigrant advocates – enforcement was weighted more heavily toward arrests made at the border.

Another difference under Trump is his administration’s increasing deportations of non-criminals. Despite its claims of prioritizing the “worst of the worst,” the administration increasingly deported people with no criminal convictions on their records in 2025. 

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