According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) annual report, the agency deported 271,484 immigrants to nearly 200 countries during the last fiscal year, marking the highest level in a decade.
The majority of those deported had entered the U.S. illegally through the southern border, amidst a surge in people fleeing authoritarian regimes, poverty, and economic instability in the Western Hemisphere following the pandemic. The report covers enforcement operations from October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024.
This report is the final immigration enforcement account under the Biden administration before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20. Trump has pledged to launch the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history, though details remain scarce about its execution. Immigration enforcement officer staffing levels have remained stagnant for years.
ICE’s top official, Patrick J. Lechleitner, commented, “Our agency is chronically underfunded, but our workforce is adaptable, resilient, and agile, setting a high bar within the federal government. ICE is an apolitical agency, and our workforce is committed to investigating crimes and enforcing laws set by Congress.”
When Biden assumed office in 2021, he promised to halt deportations and proposed a bill to offer a path to citizenship for most of the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants. However, the rise in border crossings hindered these plans, and his administration ended up expanding, rather than reducing, detention and deportations.
Border crossings have significantly decreased since Biden introduced new rules last summer, which severely restrict asylum claims. This change led to a rise in deportations, with far more migrants being sent back than released with pending court cases. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 46,610 migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in November, the lowest monthly total since Biden took office.
During Donald Trump’s first term, deportations peaked at 267,260 in the 2019 fiscal year, with a greater proportion of deportees being individuals arrested within the U.S., rather than recent border crossers.
Several factors contributed to the overall increase in Enforcement and Removal Operations over the past year, particularly flights to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, which have increased cooperation with deportations. ICE’s report notes that these efforts have set the foundation for further increases in deportations for fiscal year 2024.
ICE also expanded charter flights to countries in the Eastern Hemisphere, including the first large removal flight to China since 2018, deporting 500 individuals. Additional flights went to Albania, India, Senegal, and Uzbekistan.
Biden’s administration focused on deporting individuals considered a priority, such as recent border crossers and those posing a national security or public safety threat. Despite this, the number of removals remains small relative to the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., due to backlogs in immigration courts, budget constraints, and public opposition to removals in several states.
Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador received the highest numbers of deportees. These countries typically cooperate with U.S. deportation efforts, and their citizens are likely to be primary targets for removal under the Trump administration.
States like Texas, which has a high number of undocumented immigrants, cooperate with ICE, while states like California and Illinois have passed laws limiting cooperation, citing that many immigrants are long-standing residents contributing to essential jobs.
Immigration has become a key factor in U.S. population growth, contributing to 84% of the increase from 2023 to 2024, according to the latest Census Bureau data. While most of the 47 million immigrants in the U.S. are legal, as naturalized citizens or permanent residents, the issue remains politically charged.
The possibility of family separations looms as the U.S. prepares for stricter enforcement under Trump. The former president faced widespread international criticism for forcibly separating migrant parents from their children at the southern border, a policy designed to deter illegal crossings. There are concerns that his new enforcement measures may lead to more family separations. Trump and former ICE director Tom Homan have suggested that families could stay together by leaving the country together.
