About the Data - All ICE Removals

Overview. Details on all Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removals have been compiled from case-by-case records obtained from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These records were obtained after successful court litigation by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. There are two versions of the "ICE Removal" tool.
  • Use the Latest Data tool for latest updates covering all ICE removals. It contains the limited available data we have received and compiled for the most recent time periods.

  • Use the More Complete Historical Data tool to access the wider range of information TRAC has been able to compile on ICE removals during the Bush and Obama years.

This "Historical Data" tool contains a wider array of information fields than the "Latest Data" tool because ICE now withholds many important information fields it provided TRAC in the past. (TRAC has taken ICE to court[1] to challenge this withholding which we believe is unlawful.)

These data tools[2] contain individual records on each recorded ICE deportation. These include expedited removals, regular removals, reinstatement of previous removal orders after the individual has re-entered the U.S., voluntary departures and returns. The data do not include deportations by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). However, the data do include deportations eventually resulting from apprehensions at ports of entry and by the Border Patrol where custody of the individual was transferred to ICE. This occurs when the process of deportation is not fairly immediate, since CBP only has temporary holding facilities and the individual must be transferred to ICE to house in longer term detention facilities that only ICE manages.

For each individual ICE deports, information on the city and state the individuals departed from, the nature of the immigration violation giving rise to their deportation, the type of agency and program that led to their apprehension (including whether use of a detainer was involved and whether the arrest occurred at the border or in the interior of the country), the year the individual had last entered the United States and their entry status at that time. In addition to demographic information, detailed criminal histories for each individual are available. Findings reported are based on TRAC's detailed analysis of these case-by-case ICE records.

Coverage. The ICE data cover each recorded ICE deportation from the start of FY 2003 through the most recent month available. Updated data are requested each month from ICE through a new FOIA request submitted by TRAC. Data in the tool are then updated after ICE releases the information in response to these requests and updated data analyses are completed by TRAC. The most recently available coverage date is recorded at the top of the data tool.

Using the Data Tool: Dimensions and Definitions

Filtering the data using the three data tables. Select a different factor or dimension to display in each of the three tables. The tables are inter-connected so that the data filter from left to right. After selecting a factor to display in the left most table, select a particular row category to drill in on by clicking on that row's label in the left-most table. The middle table will then display the details for that particular selection from the left table on the dimension you had chosen to display for the middle table. In other words, if you click on a category in the left table it displays only cases within that class in the middle table. Click on a category in the middle table to display only cases within that selection in the right table. To help you keep track, your selection is displayed at the top of the table to the right.

Sorting the tabular data displayed. By clicking on the column headings in a table, you can sort the tabular data displayed. Clicking on the table column heading for the name of the dimension, sorts each tabular row in alphabetical order. Clicking a second time, sorts in reverse alphabetical order. Clicking on the column heading "Total" reverses the default sort order of largest to smallest to display from the smallest to the largest value.

Selecting what is displayed in the time series graph. The data in the graph updates to reflect the category in the table you selected when clicking on its row label. The title shown above the graph indicates the selection criteria you have chosen. Mouse-over any bar in the graph to view the value being plotted.

There are also two additional controls you can use to change what the graph displays.

  • Monthly versus FY toggle. By default, the time series graph displays data for each month. To instead display bars for each fiscal year, choose the "by Fiscal Year" option to the left of the graph.

  • Number/percent toggle. By default, the number of cases is displayed in the graph. To instead display the value as a percent of the total for your current selection, choose the "Percent" option to the right of the graph. (Note: 100 percent will be displayed if the total ("All") was the category you have currently selected.)

Data dimensions. To change the set of categories displayed in a table, select a different factor or dimension from the pull-down menu above each table. The following factors can be selected:

  • Fiscal Year Deported. This is always the fiscal year when ICE deported the individual. The federal government's fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30. So, for example, FY 2015 will return cases filed from October 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015.[3]

  • Month and Year Deported. This is the calendar month and year when the individual was deported by ICE.

  • State Departed from at Deportation. The state or territory that ICE recorded for where the individual was deported from.

  • City Departed from at Deportation. The name of the "port of entry" that the individual was deported from. Note that occasionally ICE lists a location outside the U.S. as the port of entry the individual departed from.

  • Previously Deported. Whether the individual had been previously deported from the U.S.

  • Current Deportation Type. The recorded type of deportation - expedited removal, regular removal, reinstatement of a prior removal, voluntary departure or voluntary return[4]. Among the types of removals, expedited removals are ordered by ICE without the review by any judge and bar the individual from re-entry for 5 years. Regular removals include both removals ordered by ICE as well as those ordered by an immigration judge[5]. Here an individual is barred from re- entry for 10 or 20 years, or sometimes for life. Administrative reinstatement of a prior removal order can occur if an individual has been previously removed and then re-enters the U.S. during the period re-entry is barred. A voluntary departure can be ordered by an immigration judge in place of a removal order. While the individual is required to leave the country, they are not legally barred from re-entry if they depart within the specified time period. Under administrative voluntary return procedures the individual departs without formally being ordered deported.

  • Border versus Interior. The category "border" indicates ICE records that the individual was apprehended by the Border Patrol (including at interior traffic and transportation points) or by a CBP inspection officer at a land, sea or airport when coming to the U.S. The category "interior" includes all other apprehension sources.

  • Immigration Violation Deportation Based. The formal legal grounds on which the deportation was based under immigration statutes. There are a myriad of rules subjecting a person to deportation. These include simply being present in the country without valid documents, entry without inspection, controlled substance violations, willful misrepresentation of material facts, conviction of crimes involving moral turpitude, and many others.

  • Apprehension Method/Agency. Composite developed by TRAC from ICE records identifies when apprehension was part of its Criminal Alien Program (CAP) in cooperation with federal, state or local law enforcement agencies (these categories only available from FY 2011 on), involved its cooperative relationship with local law enforcement agencies under ICE's 287(g) program, or was an apprehension by the Border Patrol versus by a CBP inspection officer at a port of entry.

  • Detainer Used. Indicates prior to the individual being deported whether ICE issued an I-247 form requesting federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies to turn the person over to ICE. Note that this dimension is not available prior to FY 2013. Further information is available on ICE use of detainers in a parallel user tool tracking ICE's use of detainers.

  • Most Serious Criminal Conviction (MSCC). The recorded most serious offense the individual was convicted for. Offense categories utilize the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) coding system maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Where there are multiple convictions, ICE identified the most serious offense. Note that ICE has improved it methods for recording criminal convictions so that data for earlier years may be less comprehensive.

  • Seriousness Level of MSCC Conviction. ICE classifies National Crime Information Center (NCIC) offense codes into three seriousness levels. The most serious (Level 1) covers what ICE considers to be "aggravated felonies." Level 2 offenses cover other felonies, while Level 3 offenses are misdemeanors, including petty and other minor violations of the law. TRAC uses ICE's "business rules" to group recorded NCIC offense codes into these three seriousness levels.

  • Calendar Year of Latest Entry into U.S. The date ICE records as the most recent entry of the individual into the U.S. This information is not recorded by ICE for a significant number of individuals.

  • Status at Latest Entry into U.S. The category ICE records the individual was placed when they most recently entered the country. Includes, for example, whether the individual was a legal permanent resident, a non-immigrant, an immigrant, a visitor, was seeking asylum (includes refugees), entered under the visa waiver program, was a parolee, or was present without admission. This information is not recorded by ICE for a significant number of individuals.

  • Age Group. The recorded age of the individual at the time he or she was deported by ICE.

  • Citizenship. The recorded citizenship of the individual.

  • Gender. The recorded gender of the individual.

Selected TRAC Reports on ICE Deportations
1:Immigration Enforcement: The Rhetoric, The Reality (May 2007)
3:Deportation of Aggravated Felons (January 2007)
3:Current ICE Removals of Noncitizens Exceed Numbers Under Bush Administration (August 2010)
3:ICE Seeks to Deport the Wrong People (November 2010)
4:Immigration Enforcement Since 9/11: A Reality Check (September 2011)
5:ICE Bypassing Immigration Courts? Deportations Rise as Deportation Orders Fall (August 2012)
6:Secure Communities and ICE Deportation: A Failed Program? (April 2014)
7:Central American Deportation Cases Dominate (August 2015)
8:Many Unrepresented Families Quickly Ordered Deported (Oct 2016)
9:Continued Rise in Asylum Denial Rates (December 2016)
10:The Role of ICE Detainers Under Bush and Obama (January 2017)

For a listing of TRAC reports on other immigration enforcement topics, go here.

Additional TRAC Immigration Enforcement Data and Tools

To access additional data using other TRAC immigration enforcement tools, go to this directory of data tools.



[1] See Long and Burnham v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Civil Action 1:17-cv-01097 (USDC, DC) filed June 8, 2017.

[2] Consult the separate Secure Communities data tool to examine the subset of these ICE removals which used the interconnection between FBI and DHS databases to identify noncitizens ICE sought to deport through matching fingerprint records submitted to the FBI by law enforcement and other sources with DHS records on noncitizens.

[3] This is based on the actual deportation date ICE recorded unlike ICE annual statistics where there can be a lag in reporting. Further current ICE records don't always replicate counts published in ICE's historical statements.

[4] TRAC has found that ICE data is not entirely reliable in distinguishing among these different types of deportation, as different fields in the data TRAC received are sometimes in conflict as to the actual deportation category cases fell into.

[5] ICE contends they cannot identify which result from the order by a judge, and which are purely administrative. TRAC does not believe this is true since ICE attorneys are responsible for representing the government in each Immigration Court case and database records are kept on these cases that are linked in with its other enforcement records. TRAC has current FOIA litigation against ICE seeking broader information.