US immigration deports record number of illegal immigrants
by Guneet S - October 8, 2010
United States, 8th October: According to the figures revealed by the US government, the US immigration department has been able to deport a record number of illegal immigrants living in the nation.
In the year ending September 2010, around 392,000 undocumented immigrants had been deported by the US immigration department. This shows an increase of around 23,000 illegal immigrants over the last year’s figures. And out of the total deportations by the US immigration, around half were reportedly criminals.
The year 2009 saw deportation of around 389,834 illegal immigrants from the US.
The US ICE(Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officials stated that out of the total deportations by the department, around 6,000 were sex offenders, 1,000 were murderers, 28,000 drunk drivers and 45,000 were drug offenders. The agency had targeted to remove around 400,000 US visa offenders out of the nation.
So, it is quite evident that the US immigration has been very successfully in curbing the growing number of criminals in the US who had come to the US without possessing valid US visas.
There has been a rise in the number of targeted criminals from the previous year by 35 percent as the US Department of Homeland Security had reiterated to weed out crime using immigration enforcement.
Speaking about the achievements, Janet Napolitano, the US Homeland Security Secretary, said that the year of 2010 had been a record-breaking year for the ICE in terms of enforcement of the law in thoughtful and firm ways while ensuring national security and public safety as the top priority. And the percentage of deportation of criminals has seen a rise of 70 percent from the figures during the Bush era, she added.
In addition, the customs enforcement department ICE has also firmed up its action towards the employers involved in hiring illegal immigrants by introducing around $50 million as fines since the start of the year 2009.
Napolitano stated that Secure Communities programs had been of great help in increasing the rate of deportation in the US.
Unauthorized immigration does not include those who are overstaying in the US after the expiry of their US visas; rather it’s an administrative violation.
»
- 2075 reads
