A recent article in the New York Times is headlined “How Many People Has Trump Deported So Far?” The stats offered by the “Gray Lady” look fairly accurate, but the story it’s attempting to tell — that Trump II is lagging prior administrations in “deporting” removable aliens from the United States — is suspect. That’s largely because of the facts the “newspaper of record” conveniently ignores — particularly about the correlation between “at large” arrests and “sanctuary” jurisdictions.
'What is a Deportation?'
The Times asks the question “What is a deportation?”, which is fundamental to its analysis.
But then the article fails to answer that critical question, asserting: “Counting deportations is not as straightforward as it seems because there is not a specific legal definition.” Perhaps an outlet that holds itself in high esteem should check its own archives (colloquially the Times’ “morgue”).
The reason there’s no “specific legal definition” for “deportations” is because Congress formally retired it nearly 30 years ago (for legal reasons), swapping out both that term — which referred to the expatriation of aliens who had entered the United States — and “exclusions” (which referred to aliens stopped and turned around at the ports and borders) for “removals”.
“Removal” refers to the expulsion of aliens ordered removed by DHS under the “expedited removal” process in section 235(b)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as well as those ordered removed by immigration judges at the end of administrative “removal proceedings” process under section 240 of the INA.
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