Background
During Donald Trump's second and current tenure as the president of the United States, his administration has pursued a deportation policy characterized as "hardline", [a] "maximalist", [6] and a mass deportation campaign, [3] affecting hundreds of thousands of immigrants through detentions, confinements, and expulsions. [3]
On January 23, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began to carry out raids on sanctuary cities, with hundreds of immigrants detained and deported. The Trump administration reversed the policy of the previous administration and gave ICE permission to raid schools, hospitals and places of worship. [7] [8] The use of deportation flights by the U.S. has created pushback from some foreign governments, particularly that of Colombia. [9] Fears of ICE raids have negatively impacted agriculture, [7] construction, [10] and the hospitality industry. [11] The total population of illegal immigrants in the United States was estimated at 11 million in 2022, with California continuing, from ten years prior, to have the largest population. [12] [13]
The administration has used the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport suspected illegal immigrants with limited or no due process, [14] [15] and to be imprisoned in El Salvador, which was halted by federal judges and the Supreme Court. [16] [17] It ordered the re-opening of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to hold potentially tens of thousands of immigrants, [18] [19] but has faced logistical and legal difficulties using it as an immigrant camp. [20] The majority of detentions have been for non-violent matters. [21] [22] [23] Several American citizens were mistakenly detained and deported. [24] Administration practices have faced legal issues and controversy with lawyers, judges, and legal scholars. [14]
Trump had discussed deportations during his presidential campaign in 2016, [25] [26] during his first presidency (2017–2021), and in his 2024 presidential campaign. [27] [28] At the time of the 2016 lead-up to his first presidential term, approximately one-third of Americans supported deporting all immigrants present in the United States illegally, and at the time of the January 2025 start to his second presidential term, public opinion had shifted, with a majority of Americans in support, according to a January 2025 review. [29] As early as April 2025, multiple polls found that the majority of Americans thought that the deportations went "too far". [30] [31] [32] [33]
The Trump administration has claimed that around 140,000 people had been deported as of April 2025, though some estimates put the number at roughly half that amount. [34]