Kristi Noem puts Trump administration deportation goal at 21 million
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that while thousands of residents in the country illegally have chosen to self-deport during the last month, millions more should leave the country to have any chance at coming back.
“You have 20 to 21 million people that need to go home,” Noem said during a Cabinet meeting, “because they’re here breaking our laws and we need to facilitate that.”
President Trump said his administration would work with self-deportees to try to come back into the U.S., “if they go out in a nice way.”
“So it gives you a real incentive, otherwise, they never come back, they’ll never be allowed, after a certain period of time goes by,” he said, floating a 60-day window to comply.
It’s the latest pitch by a White House that has promised to deliver the largest deportation operation in history, but has encountered significant legal and operational challenges to achieving that goal.
Last month, the Department of Homeland Security unveiled a new mobile phone app with a self-deportation feature called CBP Home — a reversal of a Biden administration app designed to expedite the process for individuals seeking entry into the country.
CBP Home encourages immigrants who entered the country illegally to identify themselves as a “departing traveler” who submits their intent to leave the U.S. A photograph is required to verify the registrant’s identity along with biographical information. Migrants are asked if they need help purchasing plane tickets or obtaining proper travel documents, and Noem said she has had conversations with officials in El Salvador, Colombia and Mexico about offering programs to help support returning migrants with housing and food when they get home.
“It’s a very big self-deport operation that we’re starting,” Trump said on Thursday.
Coercing immigrants into acting on their own has become a central part of the Trump administration’s strategy to escalate deportations, which are proving much more difficult to orchestrate at the pace it had originally intended.
The deportation of hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members to a prison in El Salvador using the Alien Enemies Act last month ensnared the administration in a multi-week court battle over the process it used to facilitate summary removals. On Wednesday, a federal judge in Texas halted deportations there to ensure detainees have an opportunity to challenge their removals.
In a nod to the importance of immigrants to the nation’s $1.5 trillion agriculture industry, the president also said the administration would work with farmers to allow some number of undocumented workers to remain before forcing them through a legal process.
“We have to take care of our farmers and hotels and various places where they need the people,” Trump said.
It’s unclear how many of the 21 million Noem identified in her remarks would be eligible for Trump’s carve-out.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond immediately to an inquiry about the precise number of people who have self-deported and the total number of deportations carried out this year.
This story was originally published April 10, 2025 at 4:17 PM