A minimum of one million deportations is the goal for the Trump administration in 2025, according to government officials who spoke to The Washington Post.
“That’s their goal,” a former government official said.
“They say it jokingly: ‘We’ve got to get a million removals.’”
The Trump administration has been negotiating with as many as 30 different countries to get them to take deportees who are not their citizens. These include Mexico and Costa Rica.
Deals have already been signed with El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama.
More than 100,000 migrants have already been deported, and large numbers have also self-deported before authorities could apprehend them.
During his election campaign, President Trump promised “the largest mass deportation operation in American history.” He suggested at least 20 million people are in the US illegally and must be deported.
Since taking office in January, President Trump has following a multi-pronged approach to tackling the immigration crisis, which has included ending birthright citizenship, raids targeting the most dangerous illegals known to authorities already, and deals with other countries to house illegals deported from the US.
Members of the vicious gangs Tren de Aragua and MS-13 have been flown to El Salvador, to be housed in the notorious CECOT prison constructed specially to house the Latin American nation’s own home-grown gangbangers.
Securing the nation’s southern border has also been a particular focus of Trump’s new immigration policies.
Last week, the military was authorized to take jurisdiction over federal land on the US-Mexico border, to secure it against illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
In a new memorandum, the Secretaries of Defense, the Interior, Agriculture, and Homeland Security are ordered to help transfer the public lands in question to the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense.
These lands include the Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-foot strip of land that runs across three states (California, Arizona and New Mexico). It was established by President Thedore Roosevelt in 1907 to keep all public lands along the border in those states “free from obstruction as a protection against the smuggling of goods between the United States and Mexico.” Texas was excluded from the Reservation because the state retained all public lands upon its annexation and admission to the Union.
Border crossings have already been radically reduced under President Donald Trump, reaching a monthly level that’s lower than the number who entered on a single day at the height of the Biden border crisis in 2023.
President Trump took to his social-media platform Truth Social to hail the news.
“The month of February, my first full month in Office, had the LOWEST number of Illegal Immigrants trying to enter our Country in History – BY FAR! There were only 8,326 apprehensions of Illegals by Border Patrol at the U.S. – Mexico Border, all of whom were quickly ejected from our Nation or, when necessary, prosecuted for crimes against the United States of America
“This means that very few people came – The Invasion of our Country is OVER. In comparison, under Joe Biden, there were 300,000 Illegals crossing in one month, and virtually ALL of them were released into our Country. Thanks to the Trump Administration Policies, the Border is CLOSED to all Illegal Immigrants. Anyone who tries to illegally enter the U.S.A. will face significant criminal penalties and immediate deportation.”