A post shared on X claims that 94,000 veterans have been deported since 1996.

Happy Veterans Day to the estimated 94,000 veterans deported since 1996 by the same country they fought and bled for.

Bring them home. (🧵1/4) pic.twitter.com/M79KKQrMtE

— reb (@rebmasel) November 12, 2024

Verdict: False

There are estimates that up to 94,000 non-citizen veterans have not been naturalized, which could leave some of them at risk of deportation. However, it does not mean that 94,000 veterans have been deported since 1996.

Fact Check:

Social media users are claiming that 94,000 veterans have been deported since 1996. One user, posting a video, wrote, “Happy Veterans Day to the estimated 94,000 veterans deported since 1996 by the same country they fought and bled for. Bring them home.”

This claim is false. An X user named @ThatsMauvelous or Mauv first fact-checked the claim in a thread that has since received over 342,000 views.

The user relied on a PBS SoCal article for the 94,000 figure. The outlet reported in 2021 that up to 94,000 veterans have been deported since 1996. This figure was repeated in a Nov. 2024 Fox 5 San Diego article. (RELATED: Will Trump Return To The White House Before January 20, 2025?)

One PBS SoCal spokesperson referred Check Your Fact to a publicist for the film “American Exile,” which had the information. Another PBS SoCal spokesperson told Check Your Fact that the article was written by a freelancer and forwarded this reporter’s information to the freelancer.

A PBS spokesperson told Check Your Fact after publication that “I think the best solution is for us to take down this article until it can be factchecked.”

The freelancer did not reach out to Check Your Fact. Check Your Fact reached out to the publication that the freelancer works for. This publication did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

A March 2021 Gov Exec article stated that “at least 92 US military veterans were deported between 2013 and 2018.” An Immigration Customs Enforcement spokesperson provided Check Your Fact with data that showed at least 60 “US Forces Non-Citizens” were deported between FY 2018 and FY 2024.

Based on available information, it appears that at least than 100 veterans have been deported since 2013. Tens of thousands of veterans would have to be deported between 1996 and 2013, and there is no evidence that this occurred.

The user also linked to sources, which include a UC Berkeley School of Law 2024 report. The user wrote “You can read the (legitimate, verified) reports & sources found here and cited in my video at the link in my bio.” This can imply that the 2024 report’s use of the 94,000 number meant that the authors believed 94,000 veterans were deported. The report, though, does not state that 94,000 veterans were deported.

Instead, it states, “As a result, no firm data currently exists on the total number of veterans who have been deported over the years. Some estimates place the number of veterans deported or at risk of deportation as high as 94,000.” The report links to a National Immigration Forum piece.

The source for that figure is a 2018 National Immigration Forum report that states 94,000 veterans have not been naturalized. This number is based on a Migration Policy Institute article, though the numbers have since been updated for 2022 figures.

“That number is erroneous. Our resource that you’ve linked to notes that the number of noncitizen veterans was, at that time, 94,000. But not having citizenship does not necessarily mean ‘deported or at risk of deportation,’ as the Berkeley Law piece reads, and it definitely does not mean they’ve been deported,” Dan Gordon, a spokesperson for the National Immigration Forum, told Check Your Fact.

Update 12/02/2024: This article has been updated to note that it is the National Immigration Forum, not the Immigration Forum and a further response from the PBS SoCal. It is also been updated to clarify the role of the Berkeley Law report.