- Reaction score
- 4,165
- Location
- Upper US
From Snopes:
Claim:
During the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, immigration authorities deported more than 3 million people, 75% to 83% of whom did not see a judge or have the opportunity to plead their case.
Rating:
Mostly True ()
Context:
According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data from fiscal years 2009 to 2016, more than 3 million individuals were formally removed from the country during the Obama administration. Annually, between 58% and 84% of these removals were so-called "summary removals" carried out through legal procedures such as "expedited removal" and "reinstatement of removal," which do not involve a hearing before an immigration judge. On average, about 74% of removals during this period fell into these categories.
In April 2025, a claim spread on social media that during the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama (2009-2017), immigration authorities deported more than 3 million people, 75% to 83% of whom did not see a judge or have the opportunity to plead their case.
One Facebook () that included the claim reached over 33,000 reactions, 7,700 comments and 50,000 shares. It read:
The post credited the information to a Facebook user named Michael McCune, stating, "Check out Michael's Facebook wall. He authored this before it was sent to me by a no doubt well intentioned person sent it to me. Michael is an intelligent guy with common sense ideas about our world!"
In fact, this instance of the rumor, of which many variants appeared in the wake of Trump's actions, originated from a Facebook () by McCune, published on April 20, 2025, and across multiple social media platforms including , , , , and .
We have contacted McCune to request clarification on the source of the figures cited in his post. We will update this article if we receive a response.
In short, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data from fiscal years 2009 to 2016, more than 3 million individuals were formally removed during the Obama administration. Including returns, cases in which noncitizens left the U.S. voluntarily or after withdrawing their application for admission without undergoing formal removal proceedings, the total number of departures exceeded 5 million.
In fact, this instance of the rumor, of which many variants appeared in the wake of Trump's actions, originated from a Facebook () by McCune, published on April 20, 2025, and across multiple social media platforms including , , , , and .
We have contacted McCune to request clarification on the source of the figures cited in his post. We will update this article if we receive a response.
In short, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data from fiscal years 2009 to 2016, more than 3 million individuals were formally removed during the Obama administration. Including returns, cases in which noncitizens left the U.S. voluntarily or after withdrawing their application for admission without undergoing formal removal proceedings, the total number of departures exceeded 5 million.
Let's begin by unpacking the Facebook post's claim that "under Obama, over 3 million people were deported."
The Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank focused on U.S. and global immigration, that "deportation" is a broad, nontechnical term referring to the removal of a noncitizen from the United States, either through a formal removal or a return. However, as of this writing, USA.gov deportation more narrowly as "the process of removing a noncitizen from the U.S. for violating immigration law." The DHS, meanwhile, the term "repatriation" to describe sending an individual back to their country of citizenship or to a third country.
Regardless of the definition, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statistics (for fiscal years , , , , , , and ), approximately 3.1 million noncitizens were formally removed from the United States during Barack Obama's two terms in office. This figure is likely what social media posts were referring to.
These statistics are based on fiscal years, which run from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Therefore, fiscal year 2009 includes some months during the term of President George W. Bush (Oct. 1, 2008 – Jan. 19, 2009), although Obama was president for most of that fiscal year (Jan. 20, 2009 – Sept. 30, 2009). Additionally, fiscal year 2017 began on Oct. 1, 2016, while Obama was still in office, but Donald Trump became president several months later, in January 2017. For the calculations in this article, we therefore omitted data from fiscal year 2017.
The figure of more than 3 million accounts only for formal removals. However, a substantial number of noncitizens also left the United States through what are classified as "returns." According to the MPI, a is a "movement of a noncitizen out of the United States based on permission to withdraw their application for admission at the border or an order of voluntary departure." When both formal removals and returns are included, the total number of deportations during the Obama administration 5 million.
The 75% number repeated in social media posts with regards to the deportations, allegedly indicating the share of people removed from the country without seeing a judge or having the opportunity to plead their case, was featured in the "The Deportation Dilemma: Reconciling Tough and Humane Enforcement" (Page 28), which the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) published in 2014. The relevant part read (emphasis added):
The 83% figure likely came from a 2014 (Page 2) by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which found that in 2013 specifically, 83% of the 438,421 deportations, a term used interchangeably with "removals" in the report (Page 119), were "summary removals." These are removals carried out through administrative procedures that do not involve a hearing before an immigration judge.
"In FY 2013, 83 percent of deportation orders came from immigration officers, not judges," the report highlighted. The relevant part from the "Executive Summary" of the report stated, "In more than 363,279 of those deportations—approximately 83 percent—the individuals did not have a hearing, never saw an immigration judge, and were deported through cursory administrative processes where the same presiding immigration officer acted as the prosecutor, judge, and jailor."
This figure originated from the DHS's "Immigration Enforcement Actions" (Page 1), which shows that 44% of removals that year were expedited removals, while 39% were reinstatements of prior removal orders — together accounting for roughly 83% of total removals during that fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2012 to Sept. 30, 2013).
Elsewhere (Page 150), however, the document broadly stated that "every year, hundreds of thousands of people (83 percent) are deported from the United States without a hearing," which could have led to generalizations.
As in DHS , "expedited removal" refers to the removal of a noncitizen "who is inadmissible because the individual does not possess valid entry documents or is inadmissible for fraud or misrepresentation of material fact." Under this process, individuals may be removed without a hearing before an immigration court.
Similarly, "reinstatement of removal" applies to individuals who were previously deported and either attempted to reenter the United States illegally or were later found in the country. In such cases, the prior removal order is reinstated and the person may again be deported without a court hearing.
All in all, both MPI's and ACLU's figures reflected only one year and not an average across all eight years of the Obama administration. The percentage of removals carried out through expedited procedures and reinstatements of prior orders varied from year to year. In 2009, these categories made up 58% of all removals. The share then rose steadily: 63% in 2010, 64% in 2011, 75% in 2012, 83% in 2013, 84% in 2014, 83% in 2015 and 84% in 2016. On average, expedited removals and reinstatements accounted for approximately 74% of all removals during Obama's time in office.
In summary, the claim that immigration authorities deported more than 3 million people during the Obama administration (2009-2017) is accurate based on "formal removal" figures reported by the DHS. When including "returns," however, the total exceeds 5 million. Over the eight-year period of the Obama administration, the percentage of removals carried out without a hearing before an immigration judge ranged from approximately 58% to 84%, averaging roughly 74%.
Claim:
During the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, immigration authorities deported more than 3 million people, 75% to 83% of whom did not see a judge or have the opportunity to plead their case.
Rating:
Mostly True ()
Context:
According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data from fiscal years 2009 to 2016, more than 3 million individuals were formally removed from the country during the Obama administration. Annually, between 58% and 84% of these removals were so-called "summary removals" carried out through legal procedures such as "expedited removal" and "reinstatement of removal," which do not involve a hearing before an immigration judge. On average, about 74% of removals during this period fell into these categories.
In April 2025, a claim spread on social media that during the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama (2009-2017), immigration authorities deported more than 3 million people, 75% to 83% of whom did not see a judge or have the opportunity to plead their case.
One Facebook () that included the claim reached over 33,000 reactions, 7,700 comments and 50,000 shares. It read:
The post credited the information to a Facebook user named Michael McCune, stating, "Check out Michael's Facebook wall. He authored this before it was sent to me by a no doubt well intentioned person sent it to me. Michael is an intelligent guy with common sense ideas about our world!"
In fact, this instance of the rumor, of which many variants appeared in the wake of Trump's actions, originated from a Facebook () by McCune, published on April 20, 2025, and across multiple social media platforms including , , , , and .
We have contacted McCune to request clarification on the source of the figures cited in his post. We will update this article if we receive a response.
In short, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data from fiscal years 2009 to 2016, more than 3 million individuals were formally removed during the Obama administration. Including returns, cases in which noncitizens left the U.S. voluntarily or after withdrawing their application for admission without undergoing formal removal proceedings, the total number of departures exceeded 5 million.
In fact, this instance of the rumor, of which many variants appeared in the wake of Trump's actions, originated from a Facebook () by McCune, published on April 20, 2025, and across multiple social media platforms including , , , , and .
We have contacted McCune to request clarification on the source of the figures cited in his post. We will update this article if we receive a response.
In short, according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data from fiscal years 2009 to 2016, more than 3 million individuals were formally removed during the Obama administration. Including returns, cases in which noncitizens left the U.S. voluntarily or after withdrawing their application for admission without undergoing formal removal proceedings, the total number of departures exceeded 5 million.
Let's begin by unpacking the Facebook post's claim that "under Obama, over 3 million people were deported."
The Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank focused on U.S. and global immigration, that "deportation" is a broad, nontechnical term referring to the removal of a noncitizen from the United States, either through a formal removal or a return. However, as of this writing, USA.gov deportation more narrowly as "the process of removing a noncitizen from the U.S. for violating immigration law." The DHS, meanwhile, the term "repatriation" to describe sending an individual back to their country of citizenship or to a third country.
Regardless of the definition, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statistics (for fiscal years , , , , , , and ), approximately 3.1 million noncitizens were formally removed from the United States during Barack Obama's two terms in office. This figure is likely what social media posts were referring to.
These statistics are based on fiscal years, which run from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Therefore, fiscal year 2009 includes some months during the term of President George W. Bush (Oct. 1, 2008 – Jan. 19, 2009), although Obama was president for most of that fiscal year (Jan. 20, 2009 – Sept. 30, 2009). Additionally, fiscal year 2017 began on Oct. 1, 2016, while Obama was still in office, but Donald Trump became president several months later, in January 2017. For the calculations in this article, we therefore omitted data from fiscal year 2017.
The figure of more than 3 million accounts only for formal removals. However, a substantial number of noncitizens also left the United States through what are classified as "returns." According to the MPI, a is a "movement of a noncitizen out of the United States based on permission to withdraw their application for admission at the border or an order of voluntary departure." When both formal removals and returns are included, the total number of deportations during the Obama administration 5 million.
The 75% number repeated in social media posts with regards to the deportations, allegedly indicating the share of people removed from the country without seeing a judge or having the opportunity to plead their case, was featured in the "The Deportation Dilemma: Reconciling Tough and Humane Enforcement" (Page 28), which the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) published in 2014. The relevant part read (emphasis added):
The document noted that nonjudicial removals included "expedited removals," "reinstatements of removal" and "stipulated removals," clarifying that stipulated removal orders "are signed by an immigration judge, but typically do not involve a removal hearing."
The 83% figure likely came from a 2014 (Page 2) by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which found that in 2013 specifically, 83% of the 438,421 deportations, a term used interchangeably with "removals" in the report (Page 119), were "summary removals." These are removals carried out through administrative procedures that do not involve a hearing before an immigration judge.
"In FY 2013, 83 percent of deportation orders came from immigration officers, not judges," the report highlighted. The relevant part from the "Executive Summary" of the report stated, "In more than 363,279 of those deportations—approximately 83 percent—the individuals did not have a hearing, never saw an immigration judge, and were deported through cursory administrative processes where the same presiding immigration officer acted as the prosecutor, judge, and jailor."
This figure originated from the DHS's "Immigration Enforcement Actions" (Page 1), which shows that 44% of removals that year were expedited removals, while 39% were reinstatements of prior removal orders — together accounting for roughly 83% of total removals during that fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2012 to Sept. 30, 2013).
Elsewhere (Page 150), however, the document broadly stated that "every year, hundreds of thousands of people (83 percent) are deported from the United States without a hearing," which could have led to generalizations.
As in DHS , "expedited removal" refers to the removal of a noncitizen "who is inadmissible because the individual does not possess valid entry documents or is inadmissible for fraud or misrepresentation of material fact." Under this process, individuals may be removed without a hearing before an immigration court.
Similarly, "reinstatement of removal" applies to individuals who were previously deported and either attempted to reenter the United States illegally or were later found in the country. In such cases, the prior removal order is reinstated and the person may again be deported without a court hearing.
All in all, both MPI's and ACLU's figures reflected only one year and not an average across all eight years of the Obama administration. The percentage of removals carried out through expedited procedures and reinstatements of prior orders varied from year to year. In 2009, these categories made up 58% of all removals. The share then rose steadily: 63% in 2010, 64% in 2011, 75% in 2012, 83% in 2013, 84% in 2014, 83% in 2015 and 84% in 2016. On average, expedited removals and reinstatements accounted for approximately 74% of all removals during Obama's time in office.
In summary, the claim that immigration authorities deported more than 3 million people during the Obama administration (2009-2017) is accurate based on "formal removal" figures reported by the DHS. When including "returns," however, the total exceeds 5 million. Over the eight-year period of the Obama administration, the percentage of removals carried out without a hearing before an immigration judge ranged from approximately 58% to 84%, averaging roughly 74%.
