The US deported more than 270,000 immigrants in a recent 12-month period, the highest amount annually in a decade, according to a government report released on Thursday.
The deportations were nearly double from 142,580 in the same period a year earlier and came as part of a broader push by Joe Biden to reduce illegal immigration.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) deported people to 192 countries in fiscal year 2024, which ended on 30 September, according to the agency’s annual enforcement report. The tally was the highest since 2014, which saw the removal of 315,943 people, and higher than any year of Donald Trump’s 2017-2021 administration, according to US government statistics.
The US was able to increase forced removals with more deportation flights, including on weekends, and streamlined travel procedures for people sent to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Although Biden took office pledging to roll back Trump’s highly restrictive immigration policies, he toughened his enforcement approach as the US saw high levels of illegal immigration. Trump won another term in the White House in November promising to deport record numbers of immigrants in the US illegally as part of a broader immigration crackdown.
Despite the large number of deportations under the Biden administration, Karoline Leavitt, Trump transition spokesperson, argued that they were insignificant compared with the high levels of illegal immigration during his presidency.
“On day one, President Trump will fix the immigration and national security nightmare that Joe Biden created by launching the largest mass deportation operation of illegal criminals in United States history,” she said in a statement.
Some 11 million immigrants lacked legal status or had temporary protections in 2022, according to government and thinktank estimates, a figure that some analysts now place at 13 million to 14 million.
The incoming Trump administration plans to tap resources across the federal government to power the planned deportation initiative, Reuters reported last month. The Biden administration has helped lay the groundwork to expand immigration jails, according to a Guardian investigation, which is expected to boost Trump’s plan for the mass deportation of undocumented people.
Trump tried to increase deportations during his first term with limited success. Ice removed 267,000 immigrants in fiscal year 2019, fewer than most years under Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama.
When looking at both deportations by Ice and returns to Mexico by US border authorities, Biden was responsible for more in fiscal year 2023 than any Trump year.
While deportations rose in fiscal year 2024, the number of Ice arrests of immigrants living in the US illegally dropped by 33% compared with the previous year, the agency’s annual report said, attributing the falloff to more officers assisting with border security operations.
