The Trump administration is boasting about deporting more than 150,000 illegal aliens since President Donald Trump returned to office—roughly 100 days ago.

The claim came in a May 1 post from the Official White House account on X, which read: “100 men vs 1 gorilla is still up for debate. Meanwhile, 142,000+ illegal alien criminals went up against 1 President Trump — They all got deported.”

The account followed up by quoting a White House press release dated April 29: “Deportations have already exceeded 142,000—this is just the beginning.”

April 29 marked the 100th day of Trump’s second, non-consecutive term in office. The same release added, “The Trump Administration has arrested over 158,000 illegal aliens in 2025 alone, including more than 600 members of Tren de Aragua.”

The message signals a shift from President Biden’s more lenient posture on immigration enforcement.

Assuming the current pace of deportations—approximately 150,000 every 100 days—holds steady, the Trump administration will carry out roughly 2 million deportations by the time Trump leaves office again on January 20, 2029.

Notably, that figure would make this term one of the most aggressive periods of immigration enforcement in modern history. Two million deportations would dwarf the 1.3 million deportations President Dwight D. Eisenhower carried out in the 1950s.

However, social media reactions to the White House’s posts were mixed.

One user, @SamSaraguy, wrote, “Hope it’s just the beginning. That is only 0.7% of the 20 million (plus?) here illegally.”

Another user, Tony Palma, responded more favorably, saying, “That’s a hell of a lot!!! I didn’t think it was that many.”

Still, the scale of the deportation effort must be considered in the context of a long-running debate: no one knows exactly how many people are living in the U.S. illegally. Official government and academic estimates have long hovered around 11 million.

“US Undocumented Population Increased to 11.7 Million in July 2023: Provisional CMS Estimates Derived from CPS Data,” read a September 2024 headline from the Center for Migration Studies.

But those figures are hotly disputed. One of the most frequently cited challenges to the conventional estimates came from an unlikely source: Wall Street.

In 2005, analysts at Bear Stearns conducted their own research on the size of the undocumented population to inform labor market and investment strategy. Their findings were stark: “The number of illegal immigrants in the United States may be as high as 20 million people, more than double the official 9 million people estimated by the Census Bureau.”

The discrepancy has only grown more conspicuous in recent years.

From 2021 to early 2025, during President Biden’s administration, the U.S. experienced historic levels of illegal immigration at the southern border. Yet the official estimates of the undocumented population have changed only marginally, prompting questions about the validity of government data and modeling methods.

In that light, the Trump administration’s 150,000 deportations in roughly 100 days may seem dramatic, but it barely scratches the surface. Even if no new illegal aliens entered the country since the Bear Stearns estimate, the recent deportation figures would account for less than 1% of the illegal population.

Beyond enforcement numbers, President Trump has also taken steps to reshape immigration policy through legislation and executive action.

While Congress has not passed major new funding for Trump’s signature immigration priorities—such as increasing the number of border patrol agents or expanding the southern border wall—Trump did sign the Laken Riley Act into law. The legislation mandates the federal detention of illegal aliens charged with serious crimes, including theft, burglary, assault on law enforcement, or any offense resulting in serious bodily harm or death.

The Trump administration has also redirected resources and leveraged other agencies to support immigration enforcement.

A March 28 press release from the U.S. Coast Guard stated, “The Coast Guard has increased its operational presence near the southwest border between U.S. and Mexico to enhance border security, immigration enforcement and to protect the territorial integrity of the United States.”

While the administration continues with deportation efforts, with the White House X account posting on May 2, “The only DEI we support: Deport Every Illegal,” the President has taken action to slow the flow of illegal aliens into the United States.