When Leonel Chávez wakes up, he still thinks he is still in Norfolk, Connecticut. It takes him a few seconds to remember that he is now far from his wife and three children, born in the United States.
“It’s a nightmare that sometimes doesn’t let me sleep, how they grabbed me, how they sent me back,” he tells CNN from Puebla, Mexico, where he arrived after being deported in mid-August.
A few days earlier, Chávez and his brother Ricardo were on their way to work at a construction site when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents captured them.
In the video, which he recorded himself, it is possible to see how the police hold him by the arm inside his truck while he repeatedly asks what they are looking for and asks to see an arrest warrant. Shortly after, they were back in Mexico.
“I feel empty, devastated,” says Chávez. Your story is just one of tens of thousands.
In the first ten months of Donald Trump’s government, between January and October 2025, at least 200,000 Latin Americans were deported, according to official data compiled by CNN.
Since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, the promise of “mass deportation” has gone from being just a slogan to a machine for expedited immigration removal, with arrests across the country, from workplaces, parking lots and residential areas to the outskirts of immigration courts.
The US Department of Homeland Security confirmed Chávez’s deportation to CNN and ensured that officers followed their training and used the minimum force necessary. The ministry also described him as an undocumented person with a long criminal history. Court documents show he has several minor convictions, mistakes Chavez admits he made as a teenager.
As the deportation machine advances, the consequences also begin to appear in the camp, which loses thousands of dollars. This is because the workers, most of whom are undocumented immigrants, do not show up to harvest for fear of being detained and sent back to their countries.
Country ranking
Deportation numbers show a drastic change in US immigration policy. In the first ten months of Joe Biden’s government, between January and October 2021, 34,293 deportations of Latin Americans were recorded, according to data from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
But in the same period of Donald Trump’s second term, which began in January 2025, deportations reached at least 200,000 people, according to a survey by CNN.
To compile this survey, the CNN contacted the ministries of Foreign Affairs, migration institutes and ministries of the Interior of Latin American countries.
At the time this report was written, Argentina, Bolivia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama and Paraguay had not responded to the request. CNN and therefore do not appear in the count, suggesting that the number of deportees may be even higher.
The increase in deportations is overwhelming: the number under the Trump administration is almost six times higher than that recorded during the same period under the Biden administration. This means that deportations increased by around 470% when the Republican returned to the White House.
The growing Latino community in the United States will reach a record number of more than 68 million in 2024, according to data from the US Census Bureau. A population so large that it is second only to Brazil and Mexico in all of Latin America.
Historically, the Mexican population has been the largest Hispanic group in the United States. In 2024, they totaled 38.9 million (11.5%), a significant increase compared to the 35.9 million recorded in 2020, according to Census data.
Mexico is also the Latin American country that has had the highest number of citizens deported: more than 100,000 people, equivalent to 53% of all US Latino deportations.
Next are Guatemala (15%) and Honduras (13%), countries marked by endemic violence, poverty and lack of opportunities, which have led thousands of people to look for better opportunities in the USA.
Immigrants from Central America have seen a significant increase in recent years. The Honduran population surpassed the one million mark in the United States for the first time since 2010.
The Guatemalan community is even larger: with more than 2 million people, according to the Census, it is one of the largest Central American populations in the country. Along with Salvadorans – who number approximately 3 million residents – Hondurans and Guatemalans constitute the three largest groups of Central American migrants within the United States.
Communities in South American countries such as Colombia, Ecuador and, in particular, Venezuela – whose economic and humanitarian crisis has forced millions of Venezuelans to flee – number more than one million people in the United States, according to the Census, and are also those that have received the most deportees since Trump’s arrival a few months ago.
The Venezuelan population reported the fastest growth of the Hispanic groups, with a 181% increase from 2010 to 2020, according to the Census.
However, Chile and Costa Rica recorded fewer deportations – less than 400 combined – as they are among the smallest Latin American communities in the country: an estimated 82,000 Uruguayans, 227,000 Chileans and 220,000 Costa Ricans lived in the United States in 2024, according to the Census.
Trump’s immigration machine
While Joe Biden’s government focused mainly on preventing the illegal entry of immigrants at the southern border, applying restrictions to asylum seekers and prioritizing the management of main routes, Trump opted for a different strategy: an offensive in the interior of the country.
ICE operations take place in workplaces, parking lots, neighborhoods and even outside immigration courts. Meanwhile, the government reviews green cards, eliminates temporary protection programs and limits work visas.
Trump’s deportation policy not only affects those who crossed the border illegally, but also immigrants living legally in the United States, expanding the impact to entire communities.
In some cities, such as Los Angeles, these measures were reinforced with the deployment of the National Guard, provoking outrage and protests from local communities and immigrant rights defenders.
The numbers reflect this difference. During Biden’s first year, deportations reached about 36,600 people, according to ICE data. In contrast, the Department of Homeland Security reports that, since the beginning of Trump’s second term, including those who have been turned away at ports of entry and those detained within the country.
Despite these numbers, the pace of immigrant detentions and deportations still falls short of the White House’s goal of one million deportations per year.
Deportations take a toll on the ground
Informal immigrants represent between 4% and 5% of the population, but they play a much greater role in industries such as agriculture, food processing and construction, where they make up around 20% or more of workers, according to Goldman Sachs.
The Department of Agriculture estimates that 42% of hired agricultural workers are not authorized to work.
Since April, 1.4 million people have left the U.S. workforce, including 802,000 foreign-born, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Agricultural workers are not included in official monthly employment reports, but analysts agree that immigration policy has an overall impact across the country.
In Wasco County, Oregon, a farmer estimated he would lose between $250,000 and $300,000 during the summer season because half of his workers didn’t show up for fear of arrest. The cherries were rotting on the trees in Ian Chandler’s orchards because no one came to pick them.
An uncertain fate for thousands of families
Back in Puebla, Leonel struggles to remain optimistic. He hopes to be reunited with his wife and children. “The United States gave me a lot, I can’t complain about that. They gave me a lot. They gave me a beautiful family. My daughter graduated. My son will graduate. It’s an ordeal that God gives us and that we will overcome”, he says.
The daughter, also affected by the separation, guarantees that her father worked hard to support the family: he had a small business, paid taxes and sought to grow. “It’s a shame that a person who does everything right here, even without documents, is treated like dirt,” she says.
