In June 2025, The Trump administration carried out 209 deportation flights—the highest monthly count in more than five years.
This total exceeded the previous peak of 193 flights in September 2021, when the President Biden administration responded to a wave of Haitian migrants with mass deportations.
Data from Witness at the Border shows a 10% rise in flights compared to May 2025 and a 54% jump over the six-month average. Since Trump resumed office in late January, ICE has operated 829 deportation flights—a 12% increase over the same period in 2024.
“It’s hard to say for certain, but 115 people per plane is a reasonable estimate,” report author Thomas Cartwright told Noticias Telemundo, suggesting that nearly 190,000 people have likely been deported through ICE Air since January.
The report highlights that half of June’s deportation flights went to Guatemala (51), Honduras (43), and El Salvador (22)—all showing sharp increases from May. In contrast, flights to Mexico declined from 30 to 17.
At least 10 of June’s flights used U.S. military aircraft, a rare and more expensive approach. These military planes carry only 70–80 individuals, compared to the 115–135 typically transported on ICE-chartered commercial flights.
Despite the surge in flights, deportations to certain key countries remain lower than in 2024. Guatemala, for example, received 17,147 deportees from January through June 22, 2025—down from 33,553 over the same period last year. Honduras, however, saw an uptick, with 17,000 deported so far in 2025 compared to 15,000 under Biden during the same timeframe.
Trump’s July 4 budget bill allocated $29.9 billion to ICE enforcement and deportation activities—tripling the agency’s annual funding. As internal enforcement intensifies, experts caution that the administration’s ambitious goal of deporting one million people within a year will likely face significant logistical and legal challenges.
