Trump admin pushing immigrants to self-deport as its deportation numbers lag

Figures obtained by NBC News show deportations in March below where they were a year ago, and far below what the administration wants

Trump administration officials are ramping up pressure on immigrants to leave the United States of their own volition, or “self deport,” as the number of people the government is deporting from the interior of the country remains stagnant, far below the vision for mass deportations promised by President Donald Trump and his top officials.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported just over 12,300 immigrants from March 1 to March 28, slightly under the 12,700 people it deported during the same period last year, according to ICE data obtained by NBC News. ICE deported around 11,000 people in February.  

A major factor in the deportation numbers’ being lower than they were during the Biden administration is the drastic drop in border crossings since Trump took office and effectively ended any pathway for people crossing the border to claim asylum. Last month, the latest month for which data is publicly available, Customs and Border Protection had just over 11,000 encounters with undocumented migrants at the southern border, compared with nearly 190,000 in March 2024. It is easier and faster for the government to deport people detained near the border than to find them after they disperse across the United States. 

The Trump administration still faces major funding and logistical obstacles to drastically ramping up deportations in the way Trump promised on the campaign trail, where he talked about the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history, and in his inaugural address, when he promised to deport “millions and millions.” That pace would most likely be achievable only with a massive cash influx to ICE from Congress, according to the sources familiar with the discussions. The funding bill that recently passed Congress increased ICE’s annual budget only by a little more than 5%, from $9 billion to $9.5 billion.

While it waits on more money to be allocated, three sources familiar with the discussions told NBC News that the relatively slow pace of deportations has led the Department of Homeland Security, which ICE is part of, to push self-deportation.