The Trump administration is preparing to inflate its deportation numbers by combining statistics from interior enforcement operations with rapid border removals, a tactic that once drew fierce Republican accusations of manipulation during Barack Obama's presidency.
Border Czar Tom Homan confirmed the shift to the Washington Examiner, saying the White House plans to merge Immigration and Customs Enforcement data with Customs and Border Protection figures to reach its stated goal of one million deportations annually. The move mirrors exactly what Obama officials did to present record expulsion numbers, a practice that prompted GOP lawmakers to accuse the former administration of falsifying records.
"Deportations are over 800,000, counting the Border Patrol too," Homan said. "We're trying to do the same thing we did during the Obama administration, looking at the numbers, pull the numbers together." ICE released separate data showing the agency deported 442,000 people in fiscal year 2025, meaning the higher figure relies heavily on CBP apprehensions at the border.
The irony is sharp. In 2012, then-House Judiciary Committee Chair Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, released internal government documents exposing Obama's accounting method. Smith called the practice dishonest and accused the administration of attempting to mislead Americans about immigration enforcement. "It is dishonest to count illegal immigrants apprehended by the Border Patrol along the border as ICE removals," Smith wrote at the time.
Homan, notably, served as head of ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations during Obama's tenure and has regularly touted his accomplishments from that period, including a Presidential Rank Award for Distinguished Service. His willingness to employ the same counting methodology now suggests the approach has become standard practice across administrations.
The move comes as pressure mounts for transparency on immigration enforcement. Homan pledged greater openness during his interview, acknowledging that data accessibility has become a contentious issue across the political spectrum. He revealed that his office receives a 22-page daily data brief and is pushing the Department of Homeland Security to release such information publicly.
"There's no reason we shouldn't be sharing that with the American people," Homan said. The Office of Homeland Security Statistics has not been regularly updated since late 2024, leaving a notable gap in publicly available enforcement figures.
Several Republican committee chairs who were involved in or aware of the 2012 criticism did not respond to requests for comment, including Andrew Garbarino, Michael McCaul, Rand Paul, Michael Guest, and Jim Jordan. Jordan was present during the original Smith press release denouncing Obama's methods. The White House also declined to comment.
Author James Rodriguez: "The same playbook that Republicans once called a con is now the Trump team's answer to hitting a politically important number. That's politics, but it exposes the hypocrisy baked into this debate."
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