The paradox of Trump’s deportation push

Kilmar Abrego Garcia enters a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office on August 25, 2025, in Baltimore, Maryland. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images President Donald Trump has vowed to deport 1 million undocumented immigrants out of the United States every year. So far, he’s falling well short of that goal, with estimates in the neighborhood of 200,000 as of August. Still, the Trump administration carries on with its deportation campaign. Driven by publicly anti-immigrant officials like Stephen Miller, the White House has ramped up funding for Immigration and Customs E