ICE Achieves Highest Deportation Rate of Unauthorized Immigrants Since 2015
ICE’s annual report published on December 19 indicated that there were over 271,000 deportations in fiscal year 2024.
An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants entered the U.S. due to the Biden administration’s open-border policies.
This marks the highest number of undocumented immigrants deported since President Joe Biden assumed office in 2021, surpassing the deportations executed during President Donald Trump’s initial term, which began in 2017.
Trump and his incoming border czar, Tom Homan, have vowed to initiate a mass deportation strategy aimed at expelling millions of undocumented immigrants, starting with criminals or those facing deportation orders.
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Illegal immigration has emerged as a critical topic in the 2024 presidential election contest between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who was referred to as the border czar during the Biden administration.
As outlined in the 2024 report, of the 271,484 removals, 237 were known or suspected terrorists, 3,706 were known or suspected gang members, and 88,763 had criminal backgrounds.
The top source countries for deportations from the United States included Mexico with 87,298; Guatemala with 66,435; Honduras with 45,923; and El Salvador with 15,284.
The surge in deportations was partially attributed to fruitful repatriation discussions with foreign governments.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) coordinated with governments in the Western Hemisphere, including El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, to boost the frequency of weekly flights.
Additional factors that facilitated deportations included reduced advance mission notification time, the acquisition of weekend manifests, and increased participation in the Electronic Nationality Verification (ENV) program.
Moreover, “intensive diplomatic efforts” by DHS and ERO led to an uptick in charter flights to Eastern Hemisphere nations.
This enabled the first significant charter removal flight to China since fiscal year 2018.
Charter flights were also arranged to countries including Albania, Angola, Egypt, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Mauritania, Romania, Senegal, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, as per the report.
The report stated that these initiatives empowered ERO to ramp up removal operations, thereby setting the foundation for further removals in 2024.
ICE Deputy Director Patrick J. Lechleitner commended the agency’s capacity to adapt to evolving challenges.
“Our federal law enforcement officers, special agents, mission support staff, and others are consistently tasked with achieving more, despite operating with limited resources,” Lechleitner remarked.
