On February 13, 2025, President Trump, at a campaign rally last year, vowed, “I will initiate the largest deportation operation in American history on my first day in office.” In the eyes of the public and the media, Trump is undoubtedly the “killer” of illegal immigrants, possibly the president with the most “hatred” towards immigrants. However, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the liberal think tank, the Cato Institute, during his first term as president, Trump only ranked fourth in the number of illegal immigrants deported compared to previous presidents, with the most deportations carried out by Democratic President Obama.
Historical records show that during President Eisenhower’s tenure in 1954, the U.S. government conducted the most extensive deportation operation in history. According to data from the National Association of Social Workers, the enforcement actions that year resulted in the arrest of over a million people.
Trump had publicly praised the deportation actions during Eisenhower’s time and vowed to push for the largest deportation operation in U.S. history, surpassing the deportation record of the 1950s. However, since President Trump took office on January 20th, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been averaging 826 arrests per day. Based on current data, the total number of arrests in a year is projected to be around 300,000.
According to data from the Department of Homeland Security and the Cato Institute, the Democratic President Obama holds the record for the highest number of deportations of illegal immigrants in history, at 3,066,457 people. The second highest is Republican President George W. Bush at 2,012,539 people, followed by Democratic President Bill Clinton at 869,646 people. Trump, the current president who has been criticized numerous times, ranks fourth with 551,449 deportations.
As for President Eisenhower, who claimed to have implemented the largest deportation operation in American history, despite arresting over a million people, only a little over 100,000 were actually deported.