Based on https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54638643
I usually think of deportation as removal, but U.S. official statistics on deportation includes two categories:
- removed .. People are said to be “removed” if they are taken out of the country under the authority of a court order,
- returned .. people are “returned” if they are refused admission while trying to cross the border, or asked to leave the country. Notice the “asked” not “ordered”, because there is no court order.
Being removed has a lasting legal consequence, making it much harder to gain re-entry to the country. But many people who have been returned across the US-Mexico border simply tried to enter the US again at a later date.
President Obama escalated a policy enacted by his predecessor, President George W Bush, to step up removals – particularly of those who had been accused or convicted of criminal offences.