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Trump admin. can resume deportations to third countries
Courthouse News reporter Kelsey Reichmann joins LiveNOW's Andy Mac to discuss the Supreme Court's decision to allow Trump administration officials to resume deportations to third countries.
President Donald Trump’s administration is not deporting nearly as many people as it promised, a new report found.
The new Migration Policy Institute report is based on publicly available data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, as the Trump administration has stopped publicly releasing similar figures compiled by the Department of Homeland Security.
In the absence of regular data, immigration analysts are relying on information obtained through lawsuits or limited information released by federal agencies.
How many deportations under Trump?
By the numbers:
According to the report, the administration is on track to deport about 660,000 people over the past year. That’s up from 620,000 during the first year of Trump’s second term, but far short of the 1 million he promised when Congress approved billions of dollars for Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown. It’s also well below the all-time record of 1.86 million deportations recorded in 2000 under President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, but it’s 26% more than the yearly average during President Joe Biden’s administration.
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The analysis found that the Department of Homeland Security carried out 980,000 deportations during the first 18 months of the second Trump administration. The Trump administration claims it has removed 1.2 million migrants during his second term, but that number couldn’t be verified.
Migrants deported from the United States get off an airliner at the runway of the Juan Santamaria International Airport in Alajuela, Costa Rica, on April 11, 2026. (Photo by Ezequiel BECERRA / AFP via Getty Images)
The Trump administration is also increasing deportations from arrests in the country’s interior, the report said, reflecting how it was stepping up enforcement against migrants who have been in the country for a long time. In 2025, about 28% of the people deported were arrested inside the country, but by July of this year that had risen to 39%.
Migrants arrested at the southern border still make up a large number of deportations, the report said — 69% of all deportations between Jan. 20, 2025, and July 31, 2026, were of people initially intercepted at the border.
People in the country longer may have more opportunities to contest their removal while the government typically has greater authority to fast-track deportations for people arrested at the border.
Big picture view:
Trump has been even more hardlined on immigration in his second term, pushing through restrictions on both legal and illegal immigration and launching high-profile arrest operations in the administration’s bid to force migrants out.
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U.S. professor deported from Kyrgyzstan
University of Southern California professor and human rights attorney Steve Swerdlow was deported from Kyrgyzstan last month after he attempted to bring students on a learning excursion. He joined Adam Llorens on LiveNOW from FOX with the latest on his situation, as well as an update on the Ukraine War.
What they're saying:
"President Trump has delivered the largest reduction in illegal immigration in modern history," White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said when asked about the report.
The other side:
Some immigrant advocates and lawyers say migrants are agreeing to leave the country simply to get out of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, detention.
Self-deportations reach ‘all-time high’
Dig deeper:
The report found voluntary departures — when people give up their cases in immigration court and agree to leave the country — were at an "all-time high," with 170,000 choosing to do so since Trump returned to office in January 2025.
People who choose voluntary departure could one day return to the U.S., experts say.
The Source: This report includes information from the Migration Policy Institute and The Associated Press.