If you watch the news, you’ve probably heard two completely different stories about Joe Biden’s immigration record. One side calls him the "open borders" president. The other side says he was just as tough as his predecessors.
But when you actually dig into the data—the real, cold hard numbers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—the reality is a lot more complicated than a 30-second soundbite.
So, how many people did Biden deport during his presidency? Honestly, the answer depends on how you define "deport." If you’re looking at the big picture, the Biden administration oversaw more than 4.4 million repatriations. That’s a massive number. In fact, it's more than any single presidential term since George W. Bush’s second term ended in 2009.
But wait. Before you jump to conclusions, we have to talk about what those numbers actually mean. Immigration math isn't straightforward. You’ve got "removals," "returns," and the now-infamous "Title 42 expulsions."
Breaking Down the Biden Deportation Totals
To understand what happened between January 2021 and January 2025, you have to look at the tools the administration used.
For the first few years, the Biden administration relied heavily on Title 42. This was a public health order started under Trump during the pandemic. It basically allowed the government to kick people out immediately without letting them ask for asylum. Under Biden, there were roughly 3 million Title 42 expulsions.
When Title 42 finally ended in May 2023, things shifted. The administration went back to Title 8, which is the standard immigration law. Once they made that switch, the numbers for "formal removals" started to skyrocket.
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In Fiscal Year 2024 alone, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) deported 271,484 people. That was the highest number of removals since 2014. It actually surpassed the annual deportation totals from Donald Trump’s first term.
Removals vs. Returns: The "Returner in Chief"
Experts at the Migration Policy Institute have started calling Biden the "returner in chief." Why? Because a huge chunk of those 4.4 million people weren't technically "deported" in the way we usually think—with a judge's order and a permanent ban on coming back.
Instead, many were "returns." This is basically where someone is caught at the border and agrees to leave voluntarily without a formal mark on their record.
- FY 2021: 59,011 formal deportations.
- FY 2022: 72,177 formal deportations.
- FY 2023: 142,580 formal deportations.
- FY 2024: 271,484 formal deportations.
By the time 2024 rolled around, the administration was deporting an average of 744 people every single day.
Interior Enforcement: Who Was Actually Being Picked Up?
This is where Biden really differed from Trump. While the total number of people sent away was high, who they were looking for changed.
Biden’s DHS, led by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, issued a memo early on saying they would prioritize "threats to national security, public safety, and border security." Basically, they wanted to go after people with serious criminal records rather than someone who had lived in the U.S. for 20 years and just had a broken taillight.
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In FY 2023, ICE ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations) conducted about 170,590 administrative arrests. Out of those, 73,822 had a criminal history. We're talking about people with charges or convictions for assault, weapons offenses, and even homicide.
However, because so many ICE agents were moved to the border to help with the record-breaking number of "encounters," the number of people picked up inside the country actually dropped compared to the Obama years. It’s a bit of a trade-off. You can't have agents in two places at once.
Comparing Biden to Trump and Obama
It’s the question everyone asks: Did he deport more than Trump?
If you count Title 42 expulsions, yes. Biden sent more people back across the border than Trump did in his first four years. But if you only count "interior removals"—people taken from their homes or workplaces inside the U.S.—Trump and Obama both had higher numbers.
| Metric | Biden (First Term) | Trump (First Term) |
|---|---|---|
| Total Repatriations | ~4.4 Million | ~2 Million |
| Formal Title 8 Removals | Increasing (reached 271k in 2024) | Steady (avg ~230k/year) |
| Title 42 Expulsions | ~3 Million | ~450,000 |
Basically, Biden’s strategy was "Border-Heavy." The vast majority of the people he deported were people who had just arrived. He wasn't doing the massive workplace raids that people remember from 2017 or 2018.
Why the Backlog Still Matters
Even with these record-breaking deportation numbers toward the end of his term, the "unauthorized" population in the U.S. still grew. Pew Research Center estimated it hit 14 million by 2023.
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Why? Because for every person deported, thousands more were entering. The immigration court backlog hit 3.7 million cases by 2024. This means that even if the government wanted to deport someone, they often had to wait years just to get a court date.
Biden tried to use "parole" programs to let people from places like Venezuela and Haiti enter legally to keep them from crossing the desert, but that just created a different kind of legal limbo. By the time his presidency ended, many of those people were still waiting to see if they could stay.
Real Talk: Was He "Soft"?
Kinda depends on who you ask. If you're a migrant advocate, you'd say he was incredibly harsh, especially after he signed that executive order in mid-2024 that essentially shut down asylum when the border got too crowded.
If you're a border hawk, you'd say the 1.7 million "gotaways"—people who evaded capture—prove he didn't do enough.
But the data doesn't lie: Biden ramped up enforcement significantly in the second half of his term. By the time the transition to the second Trump administration began in early 2025, the "removal machine" was already running at its highest speed in over a decade.
Actionable Insights: What This Means for You
If you're trying to keep track of this for policy reasons or just to be an informed voter, keep these three things in mind:
- Definitions are everything. Don't just look at "deportations." Look at "removals" versus "expulsions." A removal carries a 5-year ban on re-entry; an expulsion often carries no legal penalty.
- The Border vs. The Interior. Biden focused almost entirely on the border. If you are looking for data on how immigration affects local communities deep inside the U.S., look at "ICE Interior Removals" specifically.
- Watch the Courts. The number of deportations is limited by the number of judges. Until the court backlog is fixed, no president—Biden or Trump—can physically deport everyone in the system quickly.
If you want to track these numbers yourself, the DHS Office of Homeland Security Statistics (OHSS) publishes monthly tables that are surprisingly easy to read once you know the lingo.
Keep an eye on those Title 8 numbers as we move through 2026. They are the best indicator of how many people are actually being barred from returning to the country.