Fifteen Kenyans who were deported from the United States arrived safely in the country on Saturday, June 14, 2025, police have said.

The deportees, a woman and 14 men, are said to have violated USA Immigration rules and arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Saturday at 7.49 am aboard an Omni Air chartered flight number N486AX.

“They were cleared by Immigration Department officials and handed over to a Multi-agency team who later released them to proceed home,” the Kenya Airports Police Unit (KAPU) said.

Reports indicate that a total of 1,282 Kenyans residing in the US are targeted for deportation in line with President Donald Trump’s pre-election promise to clear the country of illegal immigrants.

A statement from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shows that as of November 24, 2024, there were 1,445,549 non-citizens from various countries across the world.

Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador are the leading countries with the highest number of immigrants of over 200,000 in the ICE list set for removal.

ICE removal is defined as the compulsory and confirmed movement of an inadmissible or deportable noncitizen out of the United States.

Since Trump took over, ICE has made significant efforts to detain and deport immigrants accused of overstaying their visas or being involved in different crimes.

President Trump had pledged to use law enforcement, the military, and federal agencies for mass deportations, along with ending birthright citizenship.

The operation, which ICE described as part of its routine enforcement actions, seeks to remove individuals residing in the US without legal authorisation.

ICE said the targeted individuals have violated immigration laws or committed other offences that warrant deportation. There are 11 million unauthorised immigrants in the US, which has a population of 341 million, according to estimates by the Pew Research Centre.

Other African countries on the deportation list are Tanzania, which has 301, Uganda (393), Somalia (4,090), South Sudan (136), Rwanda (338), Burundi (462) and Congo (795).

Ethiopia has 1,713, Djibouti (29), Nigeria (3,690), Niger (642), Zimbabwe (545), Zambia (174), Togo (427), Tunisia (160) and Morocco (495).

ICE has, however, stated that noncitizens may pursue a form of relief or protection from removal, which may include asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture.