WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Washington Post has revealed that President Trump is pursuing an ambitious goal of deporting one million undocumented immigrants within his first year back in office, according to a senior federal officials familiar with the plan.
A senior administration official told the paper that Trump’s team has adopted an “aggressive approach” to reach that target, coordinating daily with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal agencies, while engaging in negotiations with at least 30 countries to facilitate deportations.
While the administration is expected to break deportation records set under former President Obama — who oversaw roughly 400,000 deportations in a single year — experts argue that reaching one million removals is unrealistic due to budget limitations, staffing shortages and the legal right of most immigrants to appear before an immigration judge before being deported.
Targeting the 1.4 million with final removal orders
Officials say one strategy to boost deportation numbers is to focus on the 1.4 million immigrants in the U.S. who already have final removal orders, but remain in the country because their home countries refuse to accept them back.
To overcome this obstacle, the administration is negotiating with up to 30 so-called “third countries” that would agree to accept non-citizens for deportation. The list includes Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama, where deportees have already been sent. Additionally, Trump officials have transferred detainees to a massive prison in El Salvador and to the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba, though these cases represent only a small fraction of the total undocumented population.
Legal and logistical hurdles
Despite Trump’s campaign promise to deport “millions” of undocumented immigrants, the numbers suggest a more complex reality. The estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. — including those with criminal records — generally have the right to a court hearing, which can take months or even years due to the overwhelmed immigration court system.
Even locating the 1.4 million with existing deportation orders is a massive challenge. Immigration officials are working with multiple federal agencies — including the FBI, DEA, ATF and others — to track, detain and remove undocumented individuals.
Mass deportations through the CBP One Program
Adding to the pressure, Trump signed a new directive ordering the immediate removal of more than 900,000 migrants who entered the U.S. since 2023 through the CBP One mobile application, a digital portal originally launched under President Biden to streamline humanitarian entry.
According to the DHS, these individuals were notified that their temporary parole — which allowed them to live and work in the U.S. for two years — is being revoked. The department is now urging them to initiate “voluntary self-deportation” through the same app, which has been rebranded as CBP Home.
Legal justification and use of wartime powers
To expedite removals, Trump has invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a rarely used wartime statute that allows for the deportation of non-citizens during periods of national conflict. Civil liberties advocates have condemned the move as an abuse of executive power and a direct attack on immigrant rights.
While the administration continues to push its narrative of restoring order and security, immigration analysts stress that the legal, logistical and humanitarian challenges of deporting one million people in a single year remain daunting, if not impossible.
Leave a Reply