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Video of Trump saying “This is a tough one. We're gonna end up with the largest
deportation in American history.”

Video of Biden saying “Today I'm announcing actions to bar migrants who cross
our southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum.”



Immigration

BIDEN IS NOW DEPORTING MORE PEOPLE THAN TRUMP

Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have pledged to
return more migrants to their home countries, with differing approaches as
immigration has emerged as a top issue in the coming U.S. election rematch.

By Ben Kellerman, Mica Rosenberg and Ted Hesson
Published July 8, 2023  10:30 MESZ




Republican former President Donald Trump is promising to ramp up deportations
from the United States to historic levels if reelected to another four-year term
in the White House as part of his campaign to defeat President Joe Biden, a
Democrat, who has struggled with record numbers of migrants caught crossing the
U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

In June, Biden implemented a sweeping, new asylum ban aimed at quickly deporting
more recent border crossers to their home countries or Mexico.

Even with the tougher border policy, Biden has continued to work to protect
longer-term immigrants in the U.S. illegally, including through a new effort
also announced in June that would ease the path to citizenship for hundreds of
thousands of people married to U.S. citizens. He has shifted enforcement
priorities inside the country to focus on removing migrants who the U.S.has
deemed as public safety threats.

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Trump’s pledge echoes his 2015 campaign promise to deport some 11 million
immigrants in the U.S. illegally. After winning office in 2016, he said his
administration aimed to deport 2 million to 3 million people with criminal
records.

But during Trump’s term in office from January 2017 to January 2021,
deportations by U.S. immigration and border authorities fell lower than most
years of his Democratic predecessor Barack Obama, who some advocates for
immigrants dubbed the “deporter-in-chief.”

Biden had even fewer deportations than Trump during his first two years in
office when not counting rapid expulsions under a COVID-era health measure which
was used millions of times to turn people back to Mexico. But, faced with much
higher numbers of migrants arriving at the border, he greatly increased
deportations – including those of families – in federal fiscal year 2023 and the
first five months of the 2024 fiscal year, outpacing Trump.


TOTAL DEPORTATIONS AND RETURNS OF MIGRANTS BY FISCAL YEAR

Deportations conducted by Customs and Border Protection

Deportations conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement

800,000

600,000

2024 deportations are on pace to exceed

all previous Trump and Biden years.

400,000

200,000

FY 2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

(through Feb.)

1.5 mln

1.1 mln

1.9 mln

Total deportations: 2.9 mln

Biden’s term

Obama’s first term

Obama’s second term

Trump’s term

Bar chart of the number of people deported from the U.S. by year where the
numbers drop from the Obama to Trump years, drop more at the beginning of
Biden’s presidency but begin to rise in 2023 and 2024 to levels higher than
under Trump.

Note: CBP numbers include returns, which do not require a formal court order and
can be voluntary. U.S. government fiscal years run from Oct. 1-Sept. 30.
American presidents are inaugurated on Jan. 20 or 21, more than three months
into the fiscal year.

During the first presidential debate on June 27, Trump was asked to explain how
he would deport millions of people but declined to give details, saying, “We
have to get a lot of these people out and we have to get them out fast.” Biden
highlighted a recent drop in migrants illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border
under his new asylum ban but did not directly address the efforts to step up
deportations.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can deport both those arrested
at the border and immigrants who have been living in the country illegally for
years. In addition to ICE deportations, there are other ways the government
removes migrants from the country. Many recent crossers are quickly deported by
officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is separate from ICE,
or sign documents agreeing to voluntarily return to their home countries. Both
agencies are part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Single adults can be encountered by immigration authorities and placed into
deportation proceedings in a number of ways. (Unaccompanied children are subject
to different processes.)

Arrested in the U.S. interior

Includes those living in the U.S. for many years

Arrested at the Southwest border

Mostly recent border crossers

Person turned over to ICE

by local law enforcement or

after incarceration

Person does not request asylum

or is not eligible for asylum or

another form of protection

Person arrested by ICE

agents or border agents

Person asks

for asylum

fails screening

DEPORTATION

ORDERED

Initial screening

passes screening

Biden’s new asylum action aims to speed

up these steps in the process

U.S. detains them

Immigration court hearing

with possibility of appeal

DEPORTATION

DEPORTATION

ORDERED

Person allowed to stay in U.S.

A flowchart showing the different steps in the deportation process that many
individuals in the U.S. must undergo, some of whom have already been living in
the country and others who have recently crossed the border.


TRUMP’S MASS DEPORTATION PLEDGE

Trump in an April interview with Time magazine said he would lean more on local
police to turn migrants over to ICE. During his term in office, however, some
police forces limited cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Trump in
the interview said he would turn to the National Guard if needed. Tom Homan, a
former top ICE official who could return in a second Trump administration, told
Reuters the National Guard, if used, would play a support role but that only law
enforcement officers would make immigration arrests.

According to a May Reuters/Ipsos poll, a majority - or 56% - said most or all
immigrants in the U.S. illegally should be deported, though the same poll
suggested some Americans may be wary of some harsher deportation plans. About
half of those surveyed opposed putting immigrants in the country illegally into
detention camps while awaiting removal.

Trump in the Time interview downplayed reports that he would build detention
camps if reelected, saying he “would not rule out anything” but there “wouldn't
be that much of a need for them,” suggesting people would be removed quickly.
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Americans support mass
deportations, and reiterated the former president’s pledge.

“On Day One back in the White House, President Trump will begin the largest
criminal deportation operation of illegal immigrants and restore the rule of
law,” Leavitt said in a statement.

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White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez touted Biden’s recent
actions to deter illegal immigration as well as efforts to open up more legal
pathways for would-be migrants outside the U.S., saying Biden's asylum ban would
"ensure that those who cross the border unlawfully are quickly removed."


BIDEN AND THE BORDER

During Biden’s term, the number of people apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border
has reached record highs.

Biden’s administration for several years used a Trump-era border expulsion
policy, known as Title 42, to quickly send many migrants back to Mexico. The
public health measure, put in place in March 2020 at the beginning of the
COVID-19 pandemic, aimed to minimize the time migrants spent in custody and
allowed border agents to rapidly expel them to Mexico without a chance to seek
asylum.

Border agents expelled migrants 2.8 million times under Title 42. The vast
majority of those expulsions happened under Biden, who took office in January
2021, until he lifted the measure in May 2023 when the COVID emergency ended.


ARRESTS AT THE U.S. SOUTHWEST BORDER

Arrests at the border

Arrests leading to expulsion under Title 42

10,000

FY 2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024 (through May)

852 k

401 k

2.2 mln

2 mln

1.7 mln

397 k

Total arrests:

304 k

1.3 mln

Trump years

Biden years

A chart showing stacked boxes representing arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border by
year, where the number of boxes rises sharply after Biden takes office.

Note: Arrest and expulsion data provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Boxes may not sum to the displayed totals due to rounding.

Migrants expelled under Title 42 were not subject to the same consequences of a
more formal deportation process, which can lead to criminal charges or long bars
on reentering the country. The Biden administration argued that the quick
expulsions led to more people attempting to cross the border multiple times and
when it lifted the measure, U.S. officials implemented new policies aimed at
more effective enforcement.

Biden has repeatedly said the only way to fix the border is through legislation.
A bipartisan bill proposed in the U.S. Senate, and backed by the White House,
would have toughened border rules and increased funding. But Republicans
scuttled the effort after Trump came out against it, saying it would not
sufficiently stem crossings. Biden called it an “extremely cynical political
move” by the former president.

Unable to pass legislation in Congress, Biden has taken several executive
actions to limit access to asylum, while increasing legal ways to enter the
country - including by seeking an appointment at legal ports of entry on a
government-run app.

Citing these and other measures, such as increased cooperation with Western
Hemisphere countries to curb migration, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
said it has ramped up the number of removals of recent border crossers after the
end of Title 42 and sped up the asylum screening process.

Trump has said he would reinstate Title 42 if elected.

Opening photo

Democratic Party candidate U.S. President Joe Biden and Republican candidate
former U.S. President Donald Trump speak during a presidential debate in
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., June 27, 2024, in a combination photo. REUTERS/Brian
Snyder/File Photo

Opening videos

First video: Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, U.S., April
2, 2024.

Second video: Joe Biden speaks in Washington, U.S., June 4, 2024.

Sources

U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data

Additional design and development

Minami Funakoshi and Ally J. Levine

Edited by

Ally J. Levine, Julia Wolfe and Jonathan Oatis


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