The rate of deportations from the United States to Britain has doubled since Donald Trump returned to the White House.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials removed 212 individuals between his inauguration on January 20 and mid-October 2025.
According to ICE figures compiled by Berkeley University’s deportation data project, this equates to roughly 5.5 people weekly, twice the 2.6 weekly average recorded during the equivalent period under Joe Biden’s presidency.
Among those sent back, approximately half had no criminal charges or convictions, while 24 per cent were convicted offenders and 23 per cent faced pending charges.
The crackdown forms part of Mr Trump’s pledge to secure America’s borders and reduce crime, though prisoner welfare groups warn it could have significant consequences for Britain.
One deportee who has spoken publicly about his experience is Ted Jones, a 24-year-old who was removed in August 2025 following a drink-driving conviction in 2022 and visa irregularities.
Mr Jones, who moved to America as a child with his Zimbabwean father and British-born Ghanaian mother, was arrested by ICE agents while travelling to a friend’s wedding in Chicago.
After three weeks in detention, he was flown to Heathrow, leaving behind his fiancée and plans to study law in Boston.
Regular deportation flights have taken place this year
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REUTERS
In a social media video recorded after arriving in Manchester, he declared: “Now I’m in the United Kingdom and this country sucks and has made me more America First, because you see that outside of London, all of England is a Third World country, a dump.”
Despite his removal, Mr Jones maintains he supports Mr Trump’s immigration policies, stating: “I should have been deported. There is an illegal immigration crisis in America.”
Prisoner welfare organisations have raised an alarm about Britain’s readiness to receive this influx of returnees.
Chief Executive of Prisoners Abroad, Christopher Stacey, said: “What we see time and time again is that often statutory agencies haven’t thought about people coming back from prison overseas. I don’t think we are ready as a society.”
Donald Trump has ramped up deportations
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REUTERS
The charity reports many deportees are removed at short notice, frequently arriving late at night when support services are unavailable.
Mr Stacey warned: “People are at very real risk of homelessness and, quite frankly, destitution.
“They are coming to a country where they have nobody that they can rely on, no friends, no family, no job, no money, often, no identification, no medical history, nowhere to live.”
He added: “They are literally arriving at Heathrow Airport with nothing.”
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Nikol Dehaan, 53, who lived in America from the age of five before being deported in 2017 following a conviction for assault, described her arrival at Heathrow as devastating.
She said: “I had nothing but the clothes on my back. I was planning on committing suicide.”
Ms Dehaan, who now helps run the Rebuilding Lives support group in London, criticised the accommodation provided to deportees, claiming women were placed in hostels where they faced sexual assault and drug exposure.
Joseph Kaliku, 45, who spent 19 years in American prisons for violent offences before his removal in January 2025, warned of the dangers facing returnees without support networks.
He said: “Somebody who’s been in jail 19 years… they know how to go get money so they don’t starve – and you drop them off in that environment?”