“Deported” means there was an order, such as from a Court, for someone to leave.
“Voluntary departure” means, typically, someone who was intercepted at a border crossing and given the option to leave and did so voluntarily but can include others who are already in the U.S. A person who chooses to depart voluntarily does not have an immigration record that would prohibit re-entry within 10 years and can generally re-enter the U.S. legally in the future.
During Covid, many were expelled at the border due to Public Health Orders. While these were not voluntary, they were made to leave without the usual immigration processing.
- Clinton: 0.9 million deported, 11.4 million voluntary departures (Grok), or 10 million (Co-pilot)
- Obama: 3.2 million deported, 2.1 million voluntary departures (Grok and Co-pilot, similar numbers). Of those that were deported, about half had prior criminal/DUI/drug/non-violent convictions, and half had no prior criminal convictions.
- Biden: 0.7 million deported, 4.05 million voluntary departures, and 2.5 million expelled by public health orders from Mar 20 to May 23 (these are people removed at the US Mexico border without usual immigration processing) (Grok)
- Trump 1.0: 0.8 million deported, up to 1.3 million voluntary, 0.3 million by public health order
- Trump 2.0: As of June 2025, has deported 139,000. Some say 600,000 have been deported and about 1.5 million voluntarily self-deported during 2025.
- UPDATE MAY 2026: DHS says since January 2025, 800,000 illegal aliens have been deported and 2.2 million have voluntarily left the U.S. Those who choose to leave voluntarily can receive a free one-way air fare ticket and up to $2,600. (https://nypost.com/2026/05/21/us-news/stunning-number-of-illegal-migrants-who-have-been-deported-from-us-or-left-voluntarily-revealed-by-dhs/)
The above data came from Grok AI and Co-pilot searches. It has not been fully verified and the numbers vary. Here is a chart produced by Co-pilot:
Here is commentary from Meta AI:
President Obama deported approximately 3 to 5.24 million immigrants during his two terms in office, from 2009 to 2017. Here’s a breakdown ¹ ²:
- Formal Deportations: Around 3 million to 3.2 million immigrants were formally deported through removal orders.
- Total Removals and Returns: The total number of removals and voluntary returns under Obama’s administration is estimated to be around 5.24 million, with 2 million returns and 3 million removals according to some sources.
It’s worth noting that Obama’s deportation policies prioritized removing individuals with criminal records, but critics argue that this approach still led to widespread family separations and insecurity among immigrant communities. The high number of deportations during his term earned him the nickname “deporter-in-chief” among some critics ² ¹.
Time Magazine claims that deportations under Trump 2.0 are “unprecedented”: Inside Donald Trump’s Mass-Deportation Operation | TIME
As best I can tell, Time’s claim of “unprecedented”, at least for now, is false. We do have far more media coverage about deportations than we did in the past – it is unclear if ICE operations have changed or if media coverage has changed so that we are now aware of it.