Trump's New Deportation Goal for 2025 Makes It Way Harder to Meet His Campaign Promise: Report

A new Washington Post report has revealed that the Trump administration's new goal is to deport 1 million immigrants a year. Even though the number would more than double the highest annual removals in U.S. history, it would still make it significantly harder for the administration to fulfill Trump's campaign promise of removing "millions" if re-elected.

According to the investigation, based on testimony from four current and former federal officials with direct knowledge of the plans, even the 1-million deportee target faces significant logistical, legal, and diplomatic obstacles, making it unlikely to succeed.

"That is not just a switch you can turn on," said Doris Meissner, a former immigration commissioner and senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute to The Washington Post. "The deportation process is time-consuming."

Furthermore, the new goal appears to depart from what the Trump administration has been able to achieve so far. ICE had deported roughly 117,000 immigrants in 2025 through late March, according to DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. That figure includes arrests by both Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, not just deportations from the U.S. interior.

ICE arrests may hit 240,000 by the end of the fiscal year, but actual deportations are tracking toward only about 212,000, well below the 1 million goal.

Complicating things even more for the administration are mounting legal challenges against his immigration plans, such as the one filed on Monday by ACLU attorneys which argues that several Colorado men have been wrongly identified as gang members.

The lawsuit invokes last week's Supreme Court ruling, which permits deportations under the Alien Enemies Act but requires due process, including time to contest removals in court. The attorneys claim the detainees face "imminent danger" and could be deported before receiving judicial review.

Originally published on Latin Times