A Year in Trump’s Mass Deportation Campaign

On Jan. 20, 2025, President Donald Trump took the podium at his inauguration and promised to halt unauthorized border crossings and “begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens to the places from which they came.” ProPublica and The Texas Tribune spent the first 12 months of Trump’s second term examining in real time how this drive to remove immigrants unfolded across the nation. We collected data the government wouldn’t provide or didn’t track, including how many U.S. citizens had been held by immigration agents. We investigated the crowd-control methods federal agents used in Los Angeles and Chicago and spoke to the families of immigrants that the government sent to Guantanamo. After the Trump administration flew more than 230 men to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, we partnered with Venezuelan journalists to gather records and exclusive U.S. government data. The administration insisted these men were the “worst of the worst.” Our reporting showed that the vast majority did not have criminal convictions in the U.S. The drive toward mass deportation tops the Trump administration’s list of first-year “wins.” Border crossings have plummeted and the number of people held in detention each day is reaching historic highs. As federal agents sweep across U.S. cities and towns, administration officials insist that this multibillion-dollar effort is making the country safer. Reporter Perla Trevizo breaks down the dizzying first year of Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Has his administration fulfilled its promises — and if so, at what cost? We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.