Fact Check: Did Obama deport more people at start of his second term than Trump did during his?

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump's second term has centered heavily on immigration enforcement, with a strong emphasis on deportations of individuals in the US illegally, particularly those with criminal records. This builds on his campaign promises of the "largest deportation operation in US history."

However, an X user came up with a post in early 2026 claiming that Barack Obama deported more people at the start of his second term than President Donald Trump did during his. But is there any truth to this? Let us find out below.

Claim: Obama deported more people at start of his second term than Trump

An X user wrote in a post, "In 2013 alone, Obama deported a staggering 438,421 people, a higher single-year total than Trump achieved in all of 2025. So where were the viral videos of ICE agents in action back then? Why wasn't Obama constantly labeled a fascist? What made mass deportations acceptable under him, but suddenly outrageous now?"

The Trump administration has invoked authorities to suspend asylum in certain cases, expand expedited removal, and redirect resources toward interior enforcement.

Moreover, plans have included hiring thousands more ICE agents, with reports of 12,000 added, increasing detention capacity, and potential workplace raids.

Meanwhile, priority has been stated as the "worst of the worst": criminals, gang members, terrorists, and national security threats, though enforcement has extended more broadly.

Fact Check: True, deportations were more

The claim made in the online post that Barack Obama deported more people at the start of his second term than Donald Trump is true. There were 612,706 total deportations in 2013, the first year of Obama’s second term.

Meanwhile, since the start of President Trump’s second term, his administration deported 540,000 people, as per Gigafact. 

Interestingly, Trump’s total includes far more deportations of people who were arrested inside the US, a reflection of his enforcement surge targeted at Minnesota and other states. 

However, under Obama, sometimes called the "Deporter in Chief" by immigrant advocates, enforcement depended more heavily on arrests made at the border.

Similarly, another difference under Donald Trump is his administration’s increasing deportations of non-criminals. Despite the claims of prioritizing the 'worst of the worst', the administration deported people with no criminal convictions on their records in 2025. 

Notably, deportation statistics are not always directly comparable across administrations due to changes in definitions, data transparency, and enforcement focus.

In short, the claim holds under standard comparisons of reported deportation figures for the respective early second-term periods.