(José Niño, Headline USA) Newly released ICE statistics show the Trump administration’s immigration figures may be more spin than substance.
The X/ Twitter user “AF Post” was one of the first to notice the Trump administration is allegedly inflating its deportation numbers.
“The Trump administration appears to have inflated its deportation numbers by more than 100%, claiming that over 139,000 illegal immigrants were deported within 100 days, while ICE’s own statistics show the actual number is only 65,682,” AF Post reported April 30.
“It also claimed to have arrested over 150,000 illegal immigrants, though the real figure stands at just 66,463.”
The Trump administration appears to have falsely inflated its deportation numbers by more than 100%, claiming that over 139,000 illegal immigrants were deported within 100 days, while ICE’s own statistics show the actual number is only 65,682.
It also claimed to have arrested… pic.twitter.com/otmasCL9q9
— AF Post (@AFpost) April 30, 2025
AF Post’s analysis appears to be accurate.
From the campaign trail to the White House, Donald Trump has repeatedly promised to remove millions of illegal aliens from the United States. In press releases and public statements, the administration has touted “record-breaking” enforcement, with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claiming that “over 158,000 illegal aliens” had been arrested in 2025 alone and that the administration was deporting “the worst of the worst” at an unprecedented pace.
But the numbers tell a different story. According to official ICE statistics, in the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, ICE arrested 66,463 individuals and removed 65,682 — a far cry from the millions Trump promised or the inflated figures often cited in public statements.
Even the higher arrest figure of 158,000 cited by DHS appears to include enforcement actions at the border and across various agencies, not just ICE’s interior enforcement operation.
The pace of removals has been slowed by a historic decline in border crossings, with U.S. Border Patrol apprehending just 7,181 individuals in March 2025 — a 95% drop from the previous years. While the administration has hailed this as a victory for border security, this diverts attention away from the fact that the administration has yet to carry out mass deportations.
The administration’s reporting practices have also come under fire. While ICE was required by Congress to publish enforcement statistics semi-monthly, the Trump administration has at times stopped publicizing daily arrest numbers when figures began to decline.
Independent analyses, such as those by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), found that Trump’s daily removal average from January 26 to February 8 was 693, already 6.5% below the 742 daily removals under Biden in Fiscal Year 2024.
After extending the timeframe to March 8, the average declined further to 661 per day — 10.9% below Biden’s rate and lower than Trump’s initial post-inauguration figure.
According to figures from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), there are 18.6 million illegal aliens residing in the United States. All things considered, the Trump administration has its deportation work cut out for it.
Until the administration can reconcile its claims with official records, skepticism about its immigration numbers is warranted.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
