U.S. Sets Own Deportation Record in 2011, Removes 400,000
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U.S. immigration authorities deported nearly 400,000 individuals during the last year, a new record.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director, John Morton announced the agency’s 2011 fiscal year-end removal numbers today, with a focus on the Obama administration’s enforcement priority areas.
The Administration's main priority is on identification and removal of individuals that have broken criminal laws, have made threats to national security, recent border crossers, repeat violators of immigration law, and immigration court fugitives.
ICE’s Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations removed 396,906 individuals in this fiscal year, the largest number of individual removal in the agency’s history.
"These year-end totals indicate that we are making progress, with more convicted criminals, recent border crossers, egregious immigration law violators and immigration fugitives being removed from the country than ever before. Though we still have work to do, this progress is a testament to the hard work and dedication of thousands of ICE agents, officers and attorneys around the country," said Morton.
Nearly 55 percent, 216,698 of the individuals removed were convicted of felonies or misdemeanors, an 89 percent increase in the removal of criminals since their 2008 fiscal year.
This includes:
1,119 aliens convicted of homicide.
5,848 aliens convicted of sexual offenses.
44,653 aliens convicted of drug related crimes.
35,927 aliens convicted of driving under the influence.
United States Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano has directed ICE to focus their resources on key priorities, which include, expanding the use and frequency of investigations and programs like Secure Communities and Operation Cross Check, that target criminal aliens; working closely with CBP to remove recent border crossers; and focusing on repeat violators of immigration laws and immigration fugitives.
ICE says it has implemented policies and processes to ensure that those enforcing immigration laws are making appropriate use of the discretion they already have when deciding the types of individuals prioritized for removal from the country.
ICE continues to analyze their policies and the results of their programs to make improvements where necessary to meet their priorities.
"Smart and effective immigration enforcement relies on setting priorities for removal and executing on those priorities," Morton said.