McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — A new report analyzing the number of recent immigrant removals has found the Trump administration is below pace with the Biden administration, but the current administration is making more arrests.
Daily immigrant removals from the United States averaged 693 from Jan. 26 through Feb. 8 — 6.5% below what immigration removals averaged during Fiscal Year 2024 during the Biden administration, according to the report released this week by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).
“Despite deploying staff from other agencies to assist in enforcement activities and ordering active-duty military to facilitate removals at the border, daily removals have still failed to reach even the levels achieved by the previous administration. Indeed, President Trump’s removal record is growing worse with time rather than improving,” TRAC reports.
And when Immigration and Customs Enforcement data from removals through March 8 is calculated, the daily average drops to 661 per day, nearly 11% below removals averaged during the Biden administration in Fiscal Year 2024, according to TRAC.
Arrests jump under Trump
The number of arrests of immigrants under the Trump administration, however, surpasses the number made under Biden, TRAC reports.
In Fiscal Year 2024, an average of 759 immigrants daily were booked into ICE detention facilities. From Jan. 26-31 that jumped to 1,126 per day after Trump took office. And the number peaked at 909 per day from Feb. 23-28, according to TRAC data.
The total cumulative bookings from Jan. 26 through March 8 was 7% higher under Trump than Biden, TRAC reports.
The number of daily bookings, however, dropped the first week of March to 718, below the daily average of 759 during the Biden administration, the latest data available shows.
This data does not count immigrants ICE already had in custody who were not detained but were monitored through the agency’s Alternatives to Detention program.
Details ‘concealed’
TRAC says information on where immigration arrests are taking place and who is being targeted and deported is not forthcoming from the current administration.
“The Trump administration continues to conceal most concrete details about its immigration enforcement activities,” the report found.
“The need for public persistence seeking to document ICE’s actual enforcement efforts backed up with reliable numbers on arrests and removals remains of vital importance,” TRAC says.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
