The Trump administration deported over 17,200 people in April, marking the first time it surpassed levels during the corresponding month in 2024 during the Biden administration.
Still, despite the figures representing a more than 50 percent spike since February, the administration isn’t on track to meet the president’s promise to rapidly deport millions of people upon taking office.
Even though it deported roughly 573 people per day in April, the administration is conducting deportations at less than half the pace it would take to reach the single-year deportation record of about 430,000 people, set during the Obama administration in 2013, according to analysis from NBC News.
Administration staffers have reportedly pressed immigration officials to do more, with top White House aide Stephen Miller berating colleagues last week and urging them to hit 3,000 arrests per day, roughly tripling the pace from the early moments of Trump’s term, according to Axios.
To accomplish this spike in arrests and deportations, the administration has adopted a variety of aggressive enforcement tactics, including stepping up arrests at court hearings and regular legal immigration check-ins.
Since Trump took office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has added 47 new detention facility options, including partnerships with local jails and federal agencies.
The White House has also implemented measures, including paying people to self-deport and attempting the mass cancellation of student visas.
Border-crossings have plummeted, and the administration has ordered FBI field offices to assign more agents to immigration, while it is also stepping up cooperation with police departments and reportedly considering a plan to reassign Border Patrol agents to the interior of the country to aid in immigration enforcement.
As detention and deportation have surged, so have deaths in immigration custody.
At least nine people have died in immigration detention since Trump took office, already nearing the deadliest year of the Biden administration, where 12 died behind bars in 2024.
In its efforts to deport more people, the administration has mistakenly deported those protected by court order, as well as removed a two-year-old U.S. citizen with “no meaningful process,” according to a Louisiana judge.
