In 6 charts: Who are the millions Trump wants to deport?

medium nocaption117955361US President Donald Trump has promised to deport millions of people who are living in the United States without permission. This population is commonly referred to as “undocumented”, “unauthorized” or “illegal”. But these terms are not entirely accurate. A significant number are in the country with temporary permissions — though many are set to expire during Trump’s term.For the last decade, the best estimates put this population at around 11 million. But the number of people crossing US borders reached a record level in 2022 before falling last year. More recent estimates put the number of people without legal status or with temporary protection from deportation at almost 14 million in 2024.1. Many of them have permission to be here, at least for nowAs many as 40% of the people in this group do have some current authorization to live or work legally in the United States, according to one estimate by FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group that hired a demographer to study the population. medium nocaption1179390202. Those with permission fall under the protection of many programmes* Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a temporary immigration status provided to nationals of certain countries experiencing problems that make it difficult or unsafe for them to be sent back.* Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an Obama-era programme that temporarily delays the deportation of people without documentation who entered the US as children. Renewal is not automatic.* When an immigrant is not subject to mandatory detention or is not deemed to be a risk, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) exercises its discretion in making custody determinations to release him or her with conditions. medium nocaption1179393023. Groups that received humanitarian parole under BidenIn an effort to deter illegal crossings, former US President Joe Biden created a way for migrants to make an appointment to cross the southern border through a smartphone app called CBP One. The Biden administration also created special pathways for people fleeing humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Ukraine and Venezuela and extended temporary protection from deportation for people from certain countries through the TPS programme. medium nocaption117940686Trump may have limited power to immediately remove people in the above groups but he can end new applications and moved to quickly deport some of them. medium1179420504. People can have more than one status, and many of these groups overlapMany people in the country with temporary permission fall under overlapping programmes.For example, the bulk of the people who arrived through one of the Biden-era humanitarian pathways were granted parole for two years. Many of them now also have Temporary Protected Status. Along with those who used the CBP One app to cross the southern border, they can also apply for asylum within the first year they are in the United States. medium nocaption1179407985. These immigrants come from all over the worldMore than half of those who are in the United States without authorization have been here for 10 years or more.Mexicans remain by far the largest group of people living in the country without authorization, but their share has declined significantly since the 1990s, according to data from the Pew Research Centre.An influx of people fleeing humanitarian and economic crises came from Central America during Trump’s first term, and many of them are still in the country. medium nocaption1179433496. Only few immigrants can be swiftly removed. Even fewer are in custodyOut of all those who are unauthorized, Trump has said the top priority for deportation will be criminals. There are around 655,000 noncitizens living in the US with criminal convictions or pending charges, according to data from ICE, though many of these charges are for minor offenses such as traffic violations.There were about 39,000 immigrants in ICE custody at the end of December, near capacity for holding facilities.The Trump administration may also focus its enforcement efforts on the nearly 1.4 million people whom an immigration judge has already ordered to be removed from the country. medium nocaption117943316Many of the rest have been living in the country for years and have developed ties to their communities, including having children born in the United States. It would require a significant amount of time and resources to locate and remove them.NOTE: There is no direct measure of the population living in the US without authorisation, as no major government survey collects information on immigration status. Researchers use Census Bureau data that is adjusted using administrative records and other data. Many people may be counted in more than one of these groups. The data for the graphic was taken from a combination of think tanks and US government sources.