UNITED STATES · DEPORTATIONS
Key Facts
- —What is happening A Migration Policy Institute analysis finds the United States carried out about 980,000 deportations from Monday, 20 January 2025 to Friday, 31 July 2026, and only 20% involved a conviction.
- —Why it matters The administration says it targets “the worst of the worst”, yet most deportees had no conviction, and Chile and its neighbours receive the returnees.
- —The numbers About 190,000 deportees had a conviction. Of about 390,000 who had lived in the US two years or more, 71% (about 280,000) had none.
- —Who is who The Migration Policy Institute is a Washington think tank on migration. ICE arrests and removes people inside the US, and CBP guards the border.
- —What to watch Whether the Department of Homeland Security, which stopped publishing deportation statistics in January 2025, answers the findings or releases its own counts.
- —Power Index Chile ranks 3rd of 14 in The Rio Times Latin America Power Index, with 63.6 points (October 2026 edition).
- —What it means for you US readers get a rare count of who is being removed, which matters for the labour market, courts and politics, and for Latin American remittances.
A Migration Policy Institute count finds that most people deported since January 2025 had no criminal conviction. The report is covered by EFE and Latin American outlets.
About 80% of 980,000 US deportations since January 2025 involved people with no criminal conviction, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) found. The Washington think tank counted 190,000 deportees, or 20%, with a conviction, EFE and BioBioChile reported.
The MPI report covers Monday, 20 January 2025 to Friday, 31 July 2026, and EFE reported it on Thursday, 22 October. It matters to US readers because it tests the administration’s claim that it removes mainly dangerous offenders.
What the Report Counts
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stopped publishing counts in January 2025, so the MPI used Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) data. The figures are an MPI count, not an official DHS release.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) together completed about 980,000 deportations. About 69% began with a stop at the border, and about 31%, roughly 300,000, began with an arrest inside the country.
The yearly pace was about 620,000 deportations in the 2025 fiscal year and about 660,000 in 2026. Fiscal years run from October to September, as BioBioChile and EFE explained.
How Many Deportees Had No Conviction
Only about 20% of all US deportations, around 190,000, involved a person with a criminal conviction, EFE and Aristegui Noticias reported. The rest had none, though the coverage does not say whether charges were pending.
The picture is starker for long-term residents, excluding people CBP returned directly at the border. About 390,000 deportees, 61% of the people ICE removed, had lived in the United States for at least two years.
Of those, 71%, about 280,000 people, had never been convicted of a crime. Among about 90,000 who had lived in the country ten years or more, 61%, about 57,000, had no conviction.
Why the Interior Share Matters
Interior arrests made up 28% of deportations in 2025 and 34% in the first half of 2026. They reached 39% in July, according to the MPI figures reported by BioBioChile.
Monthly deportations after interior arrests rose from about 8,000 in the first three months to about 19,000 from May to July 2026. The MPI says these people probably had long ties to US communities.
The administration has said it prioritises people with criminal records, whom it calls “the worst of the worst”. EFE says the report contrasts with that stated priority, and the coverage carries no DHS or White House reply.
President Donald Trump has promised the largest deportation operation in US history, EFE recalled. His goal is one million deportations a year, and the 2026 pace of about 660,000 is below it.
What It Means for Chile and the Region
Chile receives deportees on charter flights. Pauta reported in February that official figures showed more than 300 Chileans deported since May 2025.
Chile is also changing its own migration rules, and an expulsion law cleared Congress on 20 October. Honduras shows the regional effect, with deportees near 38,000 this year.
The same MPI count is covered in a report on the 980,000 total, which focuses on the headline figure. This article looks at who was deported.
What It Means for US Readers
The count gives voters, employers and lawmakers a measure of who is being removed, beyond the administration’s public statements. Employers in construction, farming and services may feel the loss of workers who lived in the US for years.
Families in Latin America lose breadwinners, which can cut remittances, the money migrants send home. Investors tracking Chile or Honduras should treat the figures as one input.
Nothing here changes US law or any trade rule. The Chile news hub carries national coverage.
What Is Not Known
The MPI report could not be opened, so the figures come from EFE via RPP, Aristegui, El Nacional, BioBioChile and La Nación. The 20% covers all 980,000 deportations, while the 71% and 61% cover only long-term residents removed by ICE.
It is not known how many deportees had pending charges, or how many were Chilean. No DHS or White House response to the findings was found.
The figure of more than 300 Chileans deported since May 2025 comes from one outlet, Pauta, citing unnamed official figures. It dates from 4 February 2026, and no later total was found.
La Nación says the 980,000 mixes formal removals and return orders, and that formal removals alone were 580,000. That is one outlet, and 57,000 of 90,000 is 63%, so the reported 61% is likely rounded.
The figures describe 20 January 2025 to 31 July 2026 only. Later months are not counted.
What Comes Next
Any DHS response or new official count would be the first test of the MPI figures. DHS has not published such statistics since January 2025, according to the coverage.
The figures do not show how many deportees are dangerous or how many cases are pending. Fiscal year 2026 ends on 30 September 2026, and a full-year count would come later.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people did the US deport in the second Trump term?
The MPI counts about 980,000 deportations from 20 January 2025 to 31 July 2026. That is an MPI analysis of federal data, not a DHS count.
What share of deportees had a criminal conviction?
About 20%, or 190,000 people, according to the MPI figures reported by EFE. The remaining 80% had no conviction.
How many long-term residents were deported without a conviction?
Of about 390,000 deportees who had lived in the US two years or more, 71% had no conviction. Among those there ten years or more, 61% had none.
Why does the MPI use FOIA data?
DHS stopped publishing deportation statistics in January 2025. The MPI therefore relied on public data and records obtained through freedom of information requests.
Does the report say how many Chileans were deported?
The coverage gives no breakdown by nationality. Pauta reported in February that more than 300 Chileans had been deported since May 2025.
Sources: EFE via RPP, 22 October; Aristegui Noticias, 22 October; El Nacional, 22 October; BioBioChile, 22 October; La Nación, 22 October; Pauta, 4 February (all accessed 23 October 2026).
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief