Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) figures from June suggest 230,000 people could be removed or returned from the country by the end of the fiscal year next month, slightly fewer than the 235,413 deported in 2015. That was the lowest number since 2006.
While the total does not include people caught attempting to illegally cross borders, it still highlights a change in enforcement patterns under Obama. Obama was once criticized by Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) on the House floor in 2014 as the "deporter-in-chief" because of the high number of deportations under his administration.
In 2012, removals under the Obama administration peaked, with ICE reporting that 409,849 people were sent back to their home countries.
The rising number coincided with efforts to reach a deal in Congress on comprehensive immigration reform that would have included a pathway to legal status for undocumented workers in the country. Republicans were demanding that Obama toughen enforcement.
After the legislation failed, Obama shifted his strategy, pursuing executive actions that allowed some groups of undocumented immigrants to remain in the country.
The White House also exercised executive authority by changing its enforcement priorities to violent offenders, which resulted in a drop in the number of people being arrested within the interior country and deported.
"[The Department of Homeland Security] has placed more of a priority on border removals and has tried to scale back on the interior," said Faye Hipsman, a policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute.
While total deportations decreased, the proportion of criminal aliens as a percentage of removals increased from 31 percent in 2008 to 59 percent in 2015.