Trump's immigration enforcement record so far: High arrests, low deportations

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last month arrested the most people in at least five years, but deportations are still lagging far behind what President Donald Trump has promised — and even behind those in the Obama administration, according to data obtained by NBC News.

The discrepancy between arrests and deportations highlights the challenges the Trump administration faces to make good on Trump’s Inauguration Day vow to deport “millions and millions” of immigrants.

According to ICE data, its agents arrested roughly 30,000 immigrants last month, the most since monthly data was made publicly available in November 2020. But the number of immigrants deported in June — more than 18,000 — amounted to roughly half the number of arrests, according to internal figures obtained by NBC News.

The difference between arrests and deportations was similar the previous month. The Trump administration took roughly 24,000 immigrants into custody in May and deported over 15,000, according to the ICE data.

The discrepancy during the second Trump administration can be explained, at least in part, by the number of immigrants being detained who are not immediately eligible for deportation. Immigration lawyers have told NBC News that many of their clients who have been arrested have pending asylum cases and orders from immigration judges temporarily blocking their deportation.

Since February, the Trump administration has averaged 14,700 deportations per month. That’s far below the monthly average of 36,000 in 2013, the year with the most deportations during the Obama administration. From February to April 2024, the Biden administration deported 12,660 immigrants on average, according to ICE data obtained by NBC News. (The Biden administration’s deportation numbers included a surge in immigrants arrested at the southern border by Customs and Border Protection.)

The previous record high for arrests was set In January 2023, when ICE took 18,170 people into custody, according to agency data.

The Trump administration is seeking to fast-track many of those with pending asylum cases by terminating their cases and placing them on “expedited removal” paths without hearings and by deporting those with orders blocking their removal to their home countries to alternative third countries.

The large number of arrests, coupled with deportations at roughly half the same rate, has also caused overcrowding in ICE facilities. Nearly 60,000 immigrants are being held at detention facilities, according to a senior administration official, even though Congress funded 41,500 beds. Immigrants in ICE detention have complained about hygiene, medical care, lack of food and access to bedding and laundry in the facilities.

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Report warns of ‘dangerous overcrowding’ in migrant detention facilities

02:06

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, under which ICE falls, said any claim of “overcrowding or subprime conditions is categorically false.”

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“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers,” she said in a statement. “As we arrest and remove criminal illegal aliens and public safety threats from the U.S., ICE has worked diligently to obtain greater necessary detention space while avoiding overcrowding.”

McLaughlin also said the Trump administration has deported over 253,000 immigrants but did not say what was included in that number and whether DHS counted those interdicted by the Coast Guard, immigrants who left voluntarily or those who are turned around at the border. The deportation data reviewed by NBC News includes those arrested by both Customs and Border Protection and ICE who are returned to their home countries or third countries that agree to take them back.

The passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” by Congress is expected to give ICE $45 billion in detention funding, tripling its capacity to detain immigrants.

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The Supreme Court ruled in late June that the Trump administration can, at least temporarily, deport immigrants to countries other than their own. The ruling may speed up deportations this month if the Trump administration can skirt immigration judges’ rulings prohibiting the deportation of immigrants to their home countries — based on fear of persecution or torture — by sending them to others.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently announced Guatemala and Honduras have agreed to take back more foreign nationals from the United States.