Friday, Jul. 19, 2024
Were deportations under Donald Trump ‘the highest ever’?
The most deportations occurred under predecessors to former President Donald Trump.
Deportation is the removal of noncitizens for violating immigration law.
On July 17, 2024, Thomas Homan, former head of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), claimed at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee that under Trump, “deportations rose to the highest level ever.”
RNC spokespersons didn’t reply to information requests.
Deportation is a nonlegal term referring to various types of removals, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, which uses the term repatriations as a catch-all.
Its data back to 1993 show the most repatriations occurred during Bill Clinton’s second term, averaging 1.7 million annually from 1997 through 2000.
Trump’s highest was 600,000 in 2020.
The largest deportation type under Trump — removal — peaked at 347,280 in 2019.
Removals were higher in six of Barack Obama’s eight years.
Removals averaged 122,000 during the first three years under Joe Biden.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- USA.gov Understand the deportation process
- Right Side Broadcasting Network WATCH: Thomas Homan at 2024 RNC in Milwaukee, WI - 7/17/2024
- Migration Policy Institute The Biden Administration Is on Pace to Match Trump Deportation Numbers—Focusing on the Border, Not the U.S. Interior
- Google Docs Migration Policy Institute email, July 18, 2024
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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