ICE Enforcement Under Trump Intensifies, Drawing Contrasts with Obama Era Policies

Public opinion has soured on President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, with two-thirds of Americans believing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions have become excessive, according to a recent Marist Poll. At the same time, some social media users argue that Trump faces unfair criticism when compared to former President Barack Obama, claiming both administrations employed similarly harsh enforcement tactics.

A detailed analysis of detention deaths, deportation numbers, and enforcement priorities reveals significant differences between the two administrations, despite surface-level similarities.

Deaths in ICE Detention Rise Under Trump

Social media posts claiming that 56 people died in ICE custody during Obama’s tenure, suggesting comparable figures to the Trump administration, present an incomplete picture. According to official ICE records, 67 detainees died during Obama’s eight years in office (2009-2017).

By comparison, the Trump administration has already recorded 83 deaths in ICE custody. The increase has been particularly pronounced in Trump’s second term, with 37 deaths in just the first 12 months – nearly equivalent to what occurred during four years under Obama.

“The Trump administration is currently on track to see the largest number of deaths by people who are detained by ICE,” says immigration law scholar Cesar Cuauhtemoc Garcia Hernandez, attributing the increase to larger detention populations and longer detention periods.

The rising death toll coincides with heightened public scrutiny. In early 2026, two high-profile ICE shootings of U.S. citizens sparked outrage and contributed to declining support for the agency.

Comparing Deportation Numbers: Context Matters

Claims that Obama deported more people than Trump, while statistically accurate on the surface, obscure crucial differences in enforcement approaches. During Obama’s two terms, ICE deported approximately 3.1 million people, peaking at 407,000 deportations in 2012. Trump’s first term saw about 932,000 deportations, with a high of 269,000 in 2019.

However, experts emphasize that raw deportation numbers don’t tell the whole story. David Hausman, co-director of the Deportation Data Project, explains: “A lot of the confusion comes from lumping together deportations that start with an arrest at the border and deportations that start within the United States.”

When focusing specifically on interior removals – deportations of people already established in communities rather than those apprehended at the border – the Trump administration has intensified enforcement dramatically. Interior deportations quadrupled in late 2025 compared to Biden’s final year in office.

“At least by the second half of 2025, the Trump administration was deporting more people from the interior than any administration in this century,” Hausman notes.

Different Enforcement Priorities

The two administrations diverge significantly in whom they target for deportation. Obama’s interior removals predominantly involved transfers from jails or prisons – people with criminal convictions, though critics noted this included minor infractions.

Trump has shifted focus toward individuals without criminal records, relying more heavily on “street arrests” in communities. His administration has also increased deportations by revoking protected status for immigrants from countries like Somalia, Haiti, and Venezuela.

Another factor affecting deportation numbers: border crossings have declined dramatically, reaching a 50-year low according to the Pew Research Center. This trend began in late 2024, before Trump took office, following diplomatic agreements negotiated by the Biden administration with Mexico and Central American nations.

Fundamentally Different Immigration Philosophies

Hiroshi Motomura, co-director of the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy and former Obama advisor, characterizes the administrations’ approaches as “fundamentally different.”

Obama emphasized border security while showing more leniency toward immigrants already established in the United States. He famously stated he wanted to target “felons, not families” and created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.

Trump, by contrast, has made it more difficult to legally immigrate to the United States by increasing fees, slowing processing times, and intensifying security checks.

“In contrast to every U.S. president for a hundred years, the Trump administration has been skeptical or even hostile to what we would call legal migration,” Motomura explains.

The Trump administration has also dramatically expanded immigration enforcement infrastructure, increasing the detention capacity, multiplying the enforcement budget, establishing third-country deportation agreements, and replacing career immigration judges with what critics call “deportation judges.”

The deployment of federal agents into cities, normalized arrests in courthouses, and rhetoric describing immigration as an “invasion” or “emergency” further distinguish Trump’s approach from his predecessors.

As public debate continues over immigration policy, understanding these nuanced differences between administrations provides crucial context beyond simplified social media comparisons.