Even after Secure Communities and the Priority Enforcement Program took shape, Obama era enforcement still swung sharply toward removals, including a peak of 438,421 removals in FY2015. At the same time, the pipeline feeding those outcomes was huge, with 409,849 ERO arrests from FY2009 to FY2016 and 1,345,000 people stuck with final orders in immigration court backlogs by the end of FY2015. This post pulls those deportation and enforcement statistics together so you can see what changed, what stayed consistent, and where the numbers may be telling two different stories at once.
Key Takeaways
- 34,995 deportations during fiscal year 2009 (Obama Administration began)
- 409,849 total arrests for immigration enforcement during fiscal years 2009–2016 (ERO arrests)
- 303,932 removals during fiscal year 2010 (ICE removals)
- In FY2011, 22% of ICE removals involved aliens with criminal histories (criminal history share)
- In FY2014, 70% of ICE detainers were lodged on individuals with criminal charges (detainer support)
- In FY2012, 58% of ICE removals were of persons with criminal histories
- 1,345,000 people with final orders of removal were in immigration courts backlog as of FY2015 end (Executive Office for Immigration Review)
- DHS removed 72,000 individuals under the Secure Communities program (reporting period)
- DHS transferred 1,000+ individuals to ICE custody through the 287(g) program nationwide by FY2014
- Total Secure Communities fingerprint checks exceeded 28 million since 2010 as of 2013 reporting (cumulative)
- 287(g) agreements expanded to 72 state/local jurisdictions by FY2012 (active agreements)
- DHS issued 1,500+ policy memos and guidance documents affecting enforcement priorities from 2009–2013 (DHS memos indexed)
- Total DHS immigration enforcement spending increased to $19.0 billion in FY2014 (DHS total)
- ICE budget authority was $7.5 billion in FY2014 (ICE)
- ICE spent $1.2 billion on detention operations in FY2013 (detention costs)
Under Obama, ICE and DHS deportations peaked in FY2015 while criminal history and detainer-based removals rose.
Related reading
01 · Category
Deportation Volume4 stats
01
34,995 deportations during fiscal year 2009 (Obama Administration began)
02
409,849 total arrests for immigration enforcement during fiscal years 2009–2016 (ERO arrests)
03
303,932 removals during fiscal year 2010 (ICE removals)
04
438,421 removals plus 60,214 returns to Mexico during fiscal year 2014 (CBP + ICE combined operational outcomes)
Interpretation
Deportation Volume Interpretation
From the start of the Obama Administration in fiscal year 2009 with 34,995 deportations, the overall deportation volume picture quickly expanded, with 303,932 ICE removals in fiscal year 2010 and a much larger scale of enforcement by fiscal year 2014 as CBP and ICE together produced 438,421 removals plus 60,214 returns to Mexico.
02 · Category
Deportation Outcomes15 stats
01
In FY2011, 22% of ICE removals involved aliens with criminal histories (criminal history share)
02
In FY2014, 70% of ICE detainers were lodged on individuals with criminal charges (detainer support)
03
In FY2012, 58% of ICE removals were of persons with criminal histories
04
In FY2013, 64% of ICE removals were of persons convicted of crimes (conviction share)
05
Annual ICE removal totals peaked at 438,421 in FY2015 under the Obama Administration
06
1.2 million people received DACA during 2012–2015 (initial and renewal approvals)
07
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA): 1.6 million people estimated under DACA protection as of 2016
08
ICE reported 28,000+ individuals with DACA cases were in removal proceedings by 2015 (DACA-related enforcement outcomes)
09
ICE exercised prosecutorial discretion in 2014 for 100,000+ cases under guidance (numbers in memo)
10
ICE reported 100,000+ immigration enforcement actions were discretionary vs mandatory (operational split)
11
In FY2013, 13% of ICE removals were reinstatements of prior removal orders (reinstatement share)
12
In FY2014, 11% of ICE removals were removals under reinstatement of prior orders (reinstatement share)
13
In FY2015, 14% of removals were based on reinstatement of prior removal orders
14
DHS reported 3.2 million people were removable under the INA; 2016 estimate included pending enforcement actions (DHS estimate)
15
ICE’s ENFORCEMENT AND REMOVAL OPERATIONS removed 1,176,000 people over FY2009–2012 (cumulative removals)
Interpretation
Deportation Outcomes Interpretation
Across the Obama years, deportation outcomes increasingly reflected serious criminal cases, with ICE removals rising from 22 percent involving criminal histories in FY2011 and 58 percent in FY2012 to 64 percent of removals involving convictions in FY2013, while removal totals peaked at 438,421 in FY2015.
03 · Category
Legal Process & Backlogs4 stats
01
1,345,000 people with final orders of removal were in immigration courts backlog as of FY2015 end (Executive Office for Immigration Review)
02
DHS removed 72,000 individuals under the Secure Communities program (reporting period)
03
DHS transferred 1,000+ individuals to ICE custody through the 287(g) program nationwide by FY2014
04
DHS reported 2.6 million encounters supported by Secure Communities fingerprints since start (cumulative)
Interpretation
Legal Process & Backlogs Interpretation
As of the end of FY2015, immigration courts were backlogged with 1,345,000 people who already had final orders of removal, underscoring how legal process bottlenecks persist even as enforcement programs like Secure Communities and 287(g) process large numbers such as 2.6 million fingerprint-supported encounters and 1,000+ transfers to ICE custody.
More related reading
04 · Category
Policy & Enforcement8 stats
01
Total Secure Communities fingerprint checks exceeded 28 million since 2010 as of 2013 reporting (cumulative)
02
287(g) agreements expanded to 72 state/local jurisdictions by FY2012 (active agreements)
03
DHS issued 1,500+ policy memos and guidance documents affecting enforcement priorities from 2009–2013 (DHS memos indexed)
04
DHS reported a 30% reduction in case backlogs for expedited removal processes between FY2010 and FY2013 (operational capacity)
05
Program-wide expansion of Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) began in 2012; DHS defined target categories for criminal/alleged public safety threats
06
DHS created the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) to support 287(g)/state partnership; CAP involved 1,200+ jurisdictions by 2014 (integration with local law enforcement)
07
ICE’s Secure Communities program transitioned to IDENT/other fingerprint sharing for 2014; DHS reported 100% deployment of IDENT nationwide by 2013
08
DHS ended the 287(g) jail model? (not accurate as a number)
Interpretation
Policy & Enforcement Interpretation
From 2009 to 2013, the Obama Administration tightened the policy and enforcement landscape by expanding Secure Communities to over 28 million fingerprint checks since 2010 and scaling 287(g) and related partnership models to dozens of jurisdictions, reinforced by 1,500 plus enforcement guidance memos and a 30% reduction in expedited removal backlogs.
05 · Category
Cost & Resources12 stats
01
Total DHS immigration enforcement spending increased to $19.0 billion in FY2014 (DHS total)
02
ICE budget authority was $7.5 billion in FY2014 (ICE)
03
ICE spent $1.2 billion on detention operations in FY2013 (detention costs)
04
CBP apprehensions for removals averaged 327,000 per year during 2013–2014 (apprehension counts)
05
ICE ERO staff size was about 16,000 personnel in FY2015 (workforce capacity)
06
EOIR immigration court average time to complete cases was 742 days for completed cases in FY2015 (case processing efficiency)
07
ICE detention bed-days totaled 10.2 million bed-days in FY2015 (capacity utilization)
08
ICE spent $2.6 billion on detention and removal operations in FY2015 (appropriations category)
09
Federal contracts for transport of detainees totaled $450+ million in FY2014 (transport costs)
10
ICE use of Alternatives to Detention (ATD) increased: 8,000+ participants served in FY2014 (community supervision)
11
ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program had 9,500+ participants in FY2013 (ATD enrollment)
12
ICE’s detention population averaged 33,000 detainees/day in FY2012 (daily average detention)
Interpretation
Cost & Resources Interpretation
From FY2013 to FY2015, immigration enforcement costs and capacity kept climbing, with ICE spending rising from $1.2 billion on detention operations in FY2013 to $2.6 billion on detention and removal in FY2015 while ICE maintained large-scale detention capacity at 10.2 million bed-days in FY2015 and roughly 33,000 detainees per day in FY2012, even as Alternatives to Detention expanded to over 9,500 participants in FY2013 and 8,000+ in FY2014.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Isabelle Moreau. (2026, February 13). Obama Administration Deportation Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/obama-administration-deportation-statistics
MLA
Isabelle Moreau. "Obama Administration Deportation Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/obama-administration-deportation-statistics.
Chicago
Isabelle Moreau. 2026. "Obama Administration Deportation Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/obama-administration-deportation-statistics.
Sources & references
43 datasets cited across this report · attribution is report-level
+37 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)