How many more deportations could there be under Trump compared to other US presidents?

Since taking office on January 20, President Donald Trump has announced a bunch of immigration-related executive orders, with the objective of cracking down on undocumented migrants in the US.

One of Trump’s key promises is ‘mass deportations’, but how many more migrants has he deported compared to Democrats like Biden and Obama? The answer might surprise you.

In total, Biden carried out 1.5 million deportations in his four years, according to figures by the Migration Policy Institute: around the same that was carried out under Trump's first term, the BBC reported.

That number is even lower than deportations carried out under Barack Obama's first term, which added up to a total of 2.9 million.

However, Trump’s second term might look different. Just in his first week in office, immigration authorities have carried out more than a thousand arrests, although they have not given an official number of deportations so far.

Data obtained by NBC News shows that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a total of 1,179 people just on Sunday, which is more than the 956 arrests that the agency posted on X, the media outlet claims.

Of all those arrests, 613 (nearly 52%) were considered “criminal arrests.” The rest appear to be nonviolent offenders or people who have not committed any criminal offense other than crossing the border illegally, NBC reported.

Moreover, being undocumented is considered a civil offense, not a crime, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. It’s only considered a crime when an undocumented immigrant who was previously deported re-enters the US without permission.

It’s unclear how many, if any, of the other 566 migrants arrested had entered the country a second time illegally, according to NBC News.

Unlike Biden, Trump has used military planes for deportations and has made it easier for ICE to deport people without appearing before an immigration judge by expanding "expedited removal" authority nationwide for anyone in the country up to two years, ABC News reported.

Another difference between the Trump and Biden administrations is Trump ended a policy to avoid arrests at "sensitive locations," including schools, hospitals and places of worship.

Trump also ended use of a border app called CBP One to allow migrants to enter the country on two-year permits with eligibility to work, canceling tens of thousands of appointments for people stranded in Mexico.

Still, although Trump’s immigration-related changes are already affecting migrants significantly, analysts say his promise of “mass deportation”, is not viable.

If deportations continue at their current rate, it would take around 28 years to deliver on the president's promise to repatriate up to 11 million people, the estimated number of undocumented migrants in the US, Newsweek reported.

Moreover, mass deportations of over a million people every year, would significantly harm the American economy, research shows.

Mass deportations would lower US GDP, reduce the supply of workers for key industries like construction and agriculture, and would push prices up 9% or higher by 2028, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

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