President Donald Trump has started his efforts to carry out "the largest domestic deportation operation in American history." 

The administration has been touting success, sharing early numbers of immigration arrests and detentions. But there's no public data for how many people have been repatriated from the U.S. during Trump's first month in office. Trump's second term began Jan. 20.

The Department of Homeland Security, via two X posts late January and early February, said nearly 13,000 people were deported in Trump's first two weeks in office. That figure includes removals — people sent out of the U.S. via an official court order and often penalized for illegal entry — and returns, or people returned to their home countries without legal penalties.

The department hasn't posted updated deportation numbers.

Reuters reported Feb. 21 that unpublished Homeland Security data shows the Trump administration "deported 37,660 people" during Trump's first month in office; Reuters does not specify whether this accounts for both removals and returns or the source of its information. We asked Homeland Security about this data and did not get a response. 

In fiscal year 2024, which started October 2023 and ended September 2024, former President Joe Biden's administration carried out an average of 57,000 returns and removals a month. 

Before deportation, people are generally detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In the Trump administration's first two weeks, Immigration and Customs Enforcement published weekly data on immigration arrests and detentions. Those updates stopped after Feb. 1. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's immigration statistics, as of Feb. 24, show about 41,000 people in immigration detention — this includes people detained during Biden's administration. 

Detentions do not mean immediate deportations. 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Levitt said in a Feb. 5 press briefing that some people detained during the Trump administration's first few weeks were released. She attributed it to limited detention space, serious medical conditions and an inability to quickly deport people. 

Trump has taken steps to increase deportations. 

The U.S. has secured agreements with multiple countries, including Panama, Costa Rica and El Salvador, to take people deported from the U.S. who are not from those countries. This lets the U.S. deport people from countries that don't accept U.S. deportation flights who would otherwise be released into the U.S.

Venezuela has also agreed to take back deportees. The country stopped accepting deportation flights during Trump's first term. Venezuela briefly took back deportation flights under Biden, but stopped after the U.S. reimposed economic sanctions on the country.

Trump also expanded expedited removal, a fast-track deportation process that allows immigration agents to deport people without a court hearing if they lack a credible asylum case.

Under the new policy, agents can deport people living in the U.S. who can't prove they've been in the U.S. for more than two years. Previously, agents used expedited removal only with people who were in the U.S. for less than two weeks and who were detained within 100 miles of a U.S. border. 

Trump also revoked an order that barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from conducting deportations at schools, religious buildings and health care centers. 

Trump is also ending several programs that allow people to legally live and work in the U.S., such as temporary protected status for some countries. Although not having a legal status in the U.S. makes people subject to deportations, people have the right to go before an immigration judge to make a case for asylum. That process can take years because of case backlogs.

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which analyzes immigration data, said in a Feb. 25 report that although the first month of Trump administration data does not indicate what will happen his entire term, it shows that "thus far the hype does not in fact reflect what has occurred to date."

Trump's administration is enforcing policies and making agreements to increase deportations; whether it will amount to the largest deportation operation in U.S. history remains to be seen. We rate the promise In the Works.