It's been 100 days of Donald Trump: "The numbers are good," says Tom Homan, the border czar, referring to the reported 139,000 people who have been deported since the president was inaugurated (a number also promoted in a "PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT" White House press release).
But like so many of the administration's touted accomplishments, the number that's being bragged about is likely very different than the reality. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is required to share deportation numbers with Congress, says it's removed roughly 57,000 people (which squares with the count of roughly 400 deportation flights, at 125 people a flight). Of course, ICE removals aren't the full picture: ICE works in conjunction with Customs and Border Protection, which handles arrests and removals at the border. So CBP numbers would have to make up the other half of that 139,000 total, but Trump has basically sealed the border, so very few apprehensions and subsequent deportations are actually happening down there. The number is sort of beside the point, though: Trump has routinely flouted due process, denying trials to illegal immigrants accused of being MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gang members, using the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected "terrorists" but not actually proving that these people are terrorists in a court of law (more here, here, here, here). Ridding the country of actual violent criminals who entered illegally is something Americans broadly support; ripping families apart (even when they entered illegally), and depriving the accused of due process has dampened Trump's formerly broad approval from the American public. Oh, and throwing the Make-a-Wish population into immigration detention doesn't help.
Playing fast and loose with the numbers and labels and law is classic Trump. Consider the tariff rates announced on "Liberation Day" (which liberated lots of people from feeling good about their stock portfolios): Can anyone even keep track of what they are right now? The zone has been flooded with tariff-related announcements, and Trump has gone back and forth on what amounts they are and why and for which countries and when they're taking effect, seemingly fixated on the idea that trade deficits are inherently a problem, a sign of American weakness or the average Joe being ripped off.
