Misinformation Watch: Is Biden Deporting More Unauthorized Migrants Than Trump?

Reuters (Center bias) published a report on Monday claiming President Joe Biden is now deporting more unauthorized migrants than former President Donald Trump. In the report, Reuters also said Biden is likely to deport more unauthorized migrants in 2024 than either president deported during any single year in office. 

Some sources like Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias), Fox News (Right bias) reporter Bill Melugin, and Jon Feere of the Center for Immigration Studies, have claimed that the Reuters report is misleading. The critics say the report inaccurately conflates “returns” of unauthorized migrants with “removals,” which they assert are two different processes. 

Feere, a former ICE official appointed by Trump, wrote a “Fact Check” on the Reuters report. He argues that Reuters is artificially inflating Biden’s deportation numbers to help improve his immigration polling numbers. 

Here’s what to know about the conflicting media narratives and potential misinformation surrounding Reuters’ report: 

What’s causing the disagreement?

While both have statistics backing up their claims, it appears Reuters and Feere disagree on the appropriate definition of deportation. 

Reuters reports the “total deportations and returns of migrants” by fiscal year. The data combines “deportations” carried out by both Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Reuters notes that the CBP data includes “returns.” 

Reuters divides deportations into two categories, those arrested by ICE within the U.S. interior and those arrested at the Southwest border. 

In contrast, Feere asserts that “generally, when we talk about deportation, we are talking about removal,” which he describes as ICE apprehending and arresting unauthorized migrants residing within the U.S. interior, and sending them back to their home country. Feere asserts that “returns,” defined as unauthorized migrants turned away at or near the border by CBP, cannot be considered deportation.

What’s considered a deportation?

Both ICE and CBP are agencies in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), but ICE is primarily responsible for immigration actions within the interior of the United States, while CBP is responsible for enforcing the border. 

The disagreement over the definition of ‘deportation’ seems to be attributed to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), which made significant changes to the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

The IIRIRA effectively consolidated ‘deportation and exclusion proceedings’ into a streamlined process called ‘removal proceedings.’ Before 1996, deportation and exclusion proceedings were two different processes. While deportation proceedings pertained to the removal of unauthorized migrants within the U.S. interior, exclusion proceedings considered whether a person is admissible, and only applied to those attempting to cross through ports of entry. Those determined inadmissible were returned to their last foreign departure point or home country. 

The revised terminology considers both deportations and exclusions types of removals. Based on the IIRIRA definition, unauthorized migrants are considered deportable if they enter the U.S. without inspection, violate immigration law, or are deemed inadmissible while they are within U.S. territory. This means that, in certain situations, unauthorized migrants who try and enter legally and are waiting for inspection inside the U.S. are considered deportable if immigration officers find them inadmissible. 

There are several different types of removal proceedings; however, it appears that Feere and Reuters disagree on whether “expedited removal” is considered deportation. 

Expedited removal specifically applies to unauthorized migrants at or near the border. While other types of removals require formal proceedings, “expedited removal” provides DHS with the discretion to ‘remove’ unauthorized migrants deemed inadmissible at ports of entry without any legal proceedings. It also provides DHS with the authority to remove any unauthorized migrant who entered the U.S. without inspection if they are apprehended within 14 days of their arrival, and within 100 miles of the Southwest border. If an unauthorized migrant is removed through the expedited removal process, they are returned to their home country or last foreign departure point. 

CBP officials conduct expedited removals. “Returns,” as described by Reuters and Freere, refers to expedited removal proceedings in which an order of removal is not required. Excluding returns, “CBP deportations” as reported by Reuters, is likely lower across all fiscal years. CBP specifies between different types of enforcement actions within their data; however, Reuters does not. It is challenging to determine how much the CBP "returns" data influenced the report's findings, as Reuters does not specify the proportion of the CBP data categorized as returns. 

Reuters’ methodology is unclear; however, it is certain that Biden’s deportation numbers would fall if returns were excluded. 

What do the numbers say? 

The Reuters report shows deportation by fiscal year during the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations. 

Reuters reports that Biden has deported 1.1 million people thus far, with the most occurring in FY 2023, where around 500,000 unauthorized migrants were deported. However, CBP deportations which include “returns” account for nearly two-thirds of 2023’s deportations reported by Reuters. Excluding CBP data, Biden’s 2023 deportations fall to under 200,000.

Reuters claims Trump deported the most unauthorized migrants in 2019, which totals a little over 400,000. However, the CBP data including “returns” accounts for less than one-half of Trump’s deportations across all years during his presidency. Excluding the CBP data, Trump’s deportation numbers fall, but remain over 200,000. 

In contrast, Feere defined deportations as ICE removals only. Feere presents ICE removal data from FY 2018-2023. This data shows that Biden deported the most unauthorized migrants during his term in 2023, totaling to 142,580. In contrast, Trump’s deportations peaked in 2019 at 267,258, surpassing Biden’s annual numbers. 

AllSides Analysis: Has Biden deported more unauthorized migrants than Trump? 

Comparing the data presented by Reuters and Feere reveals that the claim that Biden has “deported” more unauthorized migrants than Trump depends on whether CBP actions count as “deportation.” If CBP and ICE data is combined, Biden did “deport” more people in 2023 than any year during Trump’s presidency. But if only ICE data is considered, then this is not the case.

This isn’t the first time deportation statistics have been questioned in this manner. 

During the Obama presidency, the DHS released a report similar to Reuters that also included “return” data. The report was criticized similarly by some media outlets like The Federalist (Right bias), prompting Obama to respond, saying that the “statistics are a little deceptive” because the data included unauthorized migrants apprehended at the border and sent back, which was “counted as a deportation even though they have may have only been held for a day.”

By Obama’s logic, it’s plausible that the Reuters report can be perceived as misleading.

There’s no consensus regarding whether returns should or shouldn’t be included in deportation statistics, although ICE and CBP report their statistics separately. Similarly, the DHS clearly differentiates between removals and returns in their annual reports, and does not seem to describe any type of removal action as ‘deportation.’

The divergence between Reuters and Feere on what constitutes a deportation stems from different interpretations of official statistics reported by ICE and CBP. By reading only one of these two articles, readers could see an entirely different picture than the opposing perspective illustrates.

This disagreement is a prime example of why it’s important to consume a balanced array of news media to avoid only seeing one side of a story and becoming trapped in filter bubbles.

Olivia Geno is a Content Intern at AllSides. She has a Lean Right bias.

This piece was edited and reviewed by Andy Gorel, News Editor and Bias Analyst (Center bias), Andrew Weinzierl, Bias Research Manager and Data Journalist (Lean Left bias), Kai Lincke, Content Intern (Lean Left bias), and Joseph Ratliff, Content Designer and News Editor (Lean Left bias).