More migrant family members were deported in fiscal 2020 than in President Donald Trump’s first three years in office, according to a report published Wednesday by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
ICE deported 14,500 family members from October 2019 through September 2020, compared to 10,700 in the three fiscal years before. A top federal official said ICE’s electronic travel document system used by El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala was a key reason behind the rise in deportations.
The eTD system streamlines the process of determining citizenship and obtaining travel documents for detained individuals by electronically providing biographic and biometric information to determine citizenship and/or nationality for individuals. The system also allows consular officials to review and edit electronic travel documents, which can be signed using a signature pad.
“That process allowed for quicker and faster removals and having families really not being in detention any longer than they needed to be,” Henry Lucero, ICE’s executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations, said at a media briefing according to The Washington Post.
ICE also on Wednesday said it arrested roughly 104,000 immigration law violators in fiscal year 2020 compared with 143,000 during the previous year. The agency also deported 186,000 people this year, a 30% decline from a year earlier.
Outgoing President Donald Trump made cracking down on legal and illegal immigration a focus of his four years in office.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.