In the first few months of his second term, President Donald Trump has initiated measures aimed at executing what he deems will be the most extensive domestic deportation operation in U.S. history.
The administration asserts that these endeavors, which include numerous deportation flights and the invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, are vital to curbing unauthorized immigration into the United States.
Experts suggest that countries receiving these deported individuals are likely under considerable economic and political pressure from the United States to accept these migrants back.
Since Trump’s inauguration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been deporting non-U.S. citizens via both charter and commercial flights, though the precise number of deportees remains somewhat unclear.
Data from Witness at the Border, a U.S.-based migrant advocacy group, indicates that more than 350 deportation flights have transpired since the beginning of the year.
Some of these flights utilized military aircraft; however, these transfers were discontinued by defense officials in early March due to high costs and the inefficiency associated with them, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
ICE has revealed that the average per-hour cost of a typical charter flight stands at $8,577, with the expenses reaching nearly $27,000 for a “special high-risk” charter flight depending on aircraft requirements.
One of the most significant deportations took place on March 15, when Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport over two hundred alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang to El Salvador.
The U.S. government has classified this gang as a terrorist organization, although it has reportedly provided minimal evidence regarding the alleged gang affiliations of the individuals deported.
Trump had consistently mentioned during his presidential campaign that he would invoke this particular law — a wartime authority that grants him substantial powers to detain, relocate, or deport noncitizens from countries labeled as foreign adversaries — to eliminate undocumented immigrants.
A federal judge temporarily blocked these actions, but the case ultimately reached the Supreme Court, which overturned the lower court’s decision, permitting the Trump administration to continue with its deportation efforts.
These deportations align with Trump’s commitment to enforcing a stringent approach against unauthorized immigration to the U.S., which he characterizes as an “invasion.”
Tom Homan, Trump’s “border czar” and former acting director of ICE from 2017 to 2018, remarked that the administration’s approach to deportation emphasizes the removal of individuals with criminal records as well as those perceived as national security threats.
However, the deportation statistics have not reached the anticipated levels.
Federal data demonstrates that while border crossings have decreased significantly, the Trump administration deported fewer individuals in February 2025 compared to the numbers during Joe Biden’s administration the previous year.
Under Biden, approximately four million people were deported during his presidency, while Trump’s administration deported around three million, despite Obama’s reputation as the “deporter-in-chief.”
Experts believe that the elevated deportation numbers under Biden can be attributed, in part, to a higher influx of migrants arriving at the southern U.S. border.
A significant number of deportees are being sent to third countries instead of their home nations.
The Northern Triangle countries of Central America — El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras — accounted for more than half of all deportations as of March.
In recent years, millions of individuals have fled this region, which is grappling with intensifying poverty, violence, and instability.
Most of the other deportees have been sent to various Latin American and Caribbean nations, including Colombia, Jamaica, and Mexico.
The Trump administration has forged agreements with several Latin American nations to act as either stopover locations or final destinations for deported migrants.
During visits in February, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck deals with El Salvador and Guatemala, both of which consented to accept deportation flights for their own citizens, as well as those from other nationalities.
Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, India, Mexico, and Panama have also agreed to accept or have already welcomed U.S. deportation flights.
Venezuela is also among the countries accepting deportees, having previously halted deportation flights after the U.S. imposed new restrictions on its oil sector but later resumed the operations after the transfer of Venezuelan migrants to a high-security prison in El Salvador.
Additionally, a few hundred migrants, predominantly Venezuelan, have been funneled through the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, established to detain suspected terrorists and enemy combatants post-9/11.
In late March, the Trump administration dispatched a new group of migrants to Guantánamo Bay for deportation processing.
Some countries, like Colombia and Panama, have stated that they are providing migrants with food, water, medical assistance, and the opportunity to seek asylum with support from UN agencies.
However, human rights organizations express concerns regarding the treatment of migrants upon their arrival in destination countries, particularly in El Salvador, where deportees are being sent to the country’s infamous mega prison utilized by President Nayib Bukele in his anti-gang campaign.
The Trump administration is reportedly also looking for agreements with several other nations across Africa, Asia, and Europe.
The response to these measures has been mixed.
Individuals migrate to the U.S. largely to escape adverse conditions such as poverty, violence, political turmoil, and more; and experts indicate that several recipient nations are ill-equipped to receive them.
Some countries accepting deportees may have complied under significant economic and political pressure from the Trump administration.
In late January, Colombia declined permission for two military aircraft carrying U.S. deportees to land in its territory but later retracted its deportation restriction after Trump threatened hefty retaliatory tariffs on Colombian imports.
On the domestic front, the Trump administration’s deportation strategy has encountered opposition.
Legal experts contend that the actions taken by the White House lack transparency, questioning its authority to deport individuals without due process, while numerous rights organizations have initiated lawsuits.
In April, an administrative error was acknowledged by the Trump administration regarding a Maryland individual who was transferred to El Salvador, claiming that it could not guarantee his return since he was no longer in U.S. custody.
image source from：https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/where-trumps-deportations-are-sending-migrants
