The US Department of Homeland Security oversaw 980,000 deportations during the first 18 months of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to a report published on Thursday in the Migration Policy Institute think tank.
Only 20% of all deportations in this period involved individuals with a criminal conviction, the report said.
Of deportations of immigrants with two or more years of US residence, 71% were of people who did not have a criminal conviction, it added.
The report was authored by Marc Rosenblum, a former head of the DHS Office of Homeland Security Statistics.
On an annual basis, total deportations are up from the administration of former President Joe Biden and Trump’s first term, but remained well below levels routinely observed in the early 2000s, the report said.
Out of the 980,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection deportations during Trump’s second term, about 59%, or 580,000, were removals, 30%, or 300,000, were enforcement returns, and 11%, or 110,000, were administrative returns, the report said.
Trump says his immigration crackdown and deportation drive aim to improve domestic security.
Rights advocates say the crackdown has violated due process and free speech rights and has created an unsafe environment, particularly for ethnic minorities, who have raised concerns about racial profiling.
The State Department said on Tuesday the Trump administration has revoked over 300,000 US visas during his second term.
Among visa revocations particularly condemned by rights advocates are those of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating against US ally Israel’s assault on Gaza and of foreigners over social media comments about conservative commentator Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
The Trump administration’s deportation attempts have faced multiple legal challenges with mixed results.