Migration Policy Institute report finds Trump administration deportation numbers fall short of targets

The report highlights a gap between administration immigration enforcement goals and tracked removals, while noting an increase in interior arrests and record numbers of voluntary departures from ICE detention.

• •The Migration Policy Institute report estimates the administration is on track to deport about 660,000 people over the past year.
• •The projected deportation total falls short of the 1 million promised by President Trump when Congress approved funding for immigration enforcement.
• •The Department of Homeland Security carried out 980,000 deportations during the first 18 months of the second Trump administration, according to the analysis.
• •The Trump administration claims to have removed 1.2 million migrants during his second term, though that figure could not be verified by the report.
• •Interior arrests made up 39% of deportations by July of this year, up from 28% in 2025.
• •Migrants arrested at the southern border accounted for 69% of all deportations between January 20, 2025, and July 31, 2026.
• •Voluntary departures reached an all-time high with 170,000 people choosing to give up their cases and leave since January 2025.
• •Deportation levels are 26% higher than the yearly average recorded during the Biden administration, but below the record 1.86 million in 2000 under President Bill Clinton.