Trump Deported Fewer People in February Than Biden One Year Ago

The Trump administration deported fewer people in February than the Biden administration did in the same month of 2024, NBC News reported.

Concretely, the outlet cited Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data, which showed that 11,000 people were forcibly removed from the U.S. during the first full month of Donald Trump in office.

The figure compares to the 12,000 deported during February 2024, although it includes a significant caveat: border crossings, both lawful and unlawful, have plummeted since Trump took office and all but shuttered immigration into the country.

Numbers from 2024 were largely comprised of people apprehended by Customs and Border Protection, meaning they were likely taken at the border. However, they also represented a relevant proportion of those removed last month, as NBC News detailed that when "counting only immigrants who were deported after first being arrested by ICE, nearly 4,300 immigrants were deported this February."

The outlet added that about half of those deported did not have criminal convictions or pending charges. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced new leadership posts at ICE this week after both President Donald Trump and border czar Tom Homan expressed frustration with the pace of deportations.

Concretely, Todd Lyons, the former assistant director of field operations for the agency's enforcement arm, will be the new acting director. Madison Sheahan, a former aide of Noem's when she was governor of South Dakota, will be the deputy director.

The announcement comes as the agency is also seeking to root out leaks regarding its operations, something top officials have described as dangerous. Noem said the agency will be prosecuting "two leakers of information," claiming on Sunday that the people were "leaking our enforcement operations that we had planned and were going to conduct in several cities and exposed vulnerabilities." They could face up to ten years in prison if found guilty.

The administration will seek to increase numbers by using an app from which migrants requested asylum during the Biden administration to get their data and track them down for deportation.

Concretely, the CBP One app will now be called CBP Home. According to Fox News' Bill Melugin, migrants who have the app will see it auto update, allowing Department of Homeland Security authorities to track them down.

The app will also allow migrants to register to self deport. "They fill out biographical information, including their countries of citizenship, which country they plan to return to, their alien registration numbers, contact information, and it allows them to upload photos of themselves to confirm their identity. All of it is then submitted to CBP, and they leave the country," Melugin detailed.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem highlighted that those who self-deport will still "have the opportunity to return legally in the future." "If they don't, we will find them, we will deport them, and they will never return," she added.