A conservative watchdog group has sued the Department of Homeland Security seeking data on the “actual” number of deportations of illegal immigrants. The Oversight Project filed two lawsuits this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia under the Freedom of Information Act, claiming that “inflated” deportation counts have enabled some Republicans to push softer immigration policies. “In order for deportation public policy choices to be appropriately informed, we need ACTUAL DEPORTATION DATA,” Jeff Clark, the vice president of litigation for the Oversight Project, posted on X Wednesday. In order for deportation public policy choices to be appropriately informed, we need ACTUAL DEPORTATION DATA.This why we brought two suits yesterday in order to get that information for the American people. https://t.co/w3c9MPPbPl pic.twitter.com/DiJwCjUIIn— Jeff Clark (@JeffClarkUS) July 8, 2026 “This why [sic] we brought two suits yesterday in order to get that information for the American people,” added Clark, a former assistant attorney general and the former acting administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs during President Donald Trump’s first term. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to an inquiry for this story by publication time. The Oversight Project notes that the Mass Deportation Coalition, of which it is a member organization, has also called for transparency. “Deportation numbers should be publicly available and accompanied with meaningful metrics and data to support them. It used to be this way and restoring transparency would build trust and excitement in the progress along the way,” Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, said in a public statement. It’s possible to surpass the deportations of President Dwight Eisenhower, Howell said. “With strong data, the public will be able to both understand what is happening and also what could be happening,” Howell added. “This is particularly important as we measure activity related to worksite enforcement, which is the key pillar of a mass deportation program and largely how President Eisenhower did it and why he still holds the record that I hope President Trump beats.” The Oversight Project is calling for the deportation numbers to be released with the same transparency and regularity that the government releases other numbers, such as the monthly jobs report. In May, the Oversight Project sent eight targeted public records requests to the agency and announced its “Two Commas Compliance Tracker,” aiming to update the tracker with accurate deportation numbers. The DHS did not respond to the requests, so the Oversight Project then filed two separate lawsuits to compel the department to produce the documents.  One of the lawsuits sought records to justify the Department of Homeland Security’s claim from January that more than 3 million illegal immigrants had left the United States—675,000 of them removed by DHS, and an estimated 2.2 million self-deporting. The Oversight Project contends its actions are backing up one of Trump’s core campaign promises to “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.” The group also points to White House border czar Tom Homan telling the Washington Examiner in May 2026, “we need to be transparent, because my concern was if we’re not transparent, show the American people what we’re doing, who we’re arresting, then we’ll lose faith of the American people on immigration enforcement and historic level.” The Oversight Project contends the information should already be available, noting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement published a report covering deportations from fiscal years 2020 through 2024. Further, in the DHS budget request to Congress, the agency asserted it removed and returned 442,637 aliens in fiscal year 2025.