Deportations will be counted by combining ICE work inside the country with Customs and Border Protection returns of people who cross at the border. White House border czar Tom Homan said deportations will total more than 800,000 when Border Patrol activity is included. ICE data released in April reported 442,000 deportations in fiscal year 2025. Homan previously led ICE’s Enforcement and Removal team during the Obama administration. Internal documents obtained by the House Judiciary Committee described combined statistics and the decision to count quick border returns as formal removals. The committee alleged this approach made Obama’s deportation numbers appear not higher than the prior administration. Homan also pledged more transparency, including pushing for public release of a 22-page daily data brief and noting that Homeland Security Statistics have not been regularly updated since late 2024.
"“Deportations are over 800,000, counting the Border Patrol too. We're trying to do the same thing we did during the Obama administration, looking at the numbers, pull the numbers together,” he said."
"“It is dishonest to count illegal immigrants apprehended by the Border Patrol along the border as ICE removals,” then-House Judiciary Chair Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said in a 2012 press release."
"The Judiciary committee obtained internal agency documents outlining the combined stats and the decision to count the quick border returns as formal removals. The committee alleged that this meant Obama's deportation numbers actually weren't higher than the previous administration."
"“There's no reason we shouldn't be sharing that with the American people,” Homan said. The Office of Homeland Security Statistics hasn't been regularly updated since late 2024, but Homan divulged that he receives a 22 page daily data brief that he is pushing the Homeland Security Department and the White House to make public."
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