Thread: Arrests for Immigration Violations Plummet to Lowest Level in 40 Years

Arrests for Immigration Violations Plummet to Lowest Level in 40 Years

Published July 18, 2012
Associated Press

WASHINGTON – With the northbound traffic of undocumented immigrants declining, the government says apprehensions of people for federal immigration violations have dropped to a 40-year low.

At the same time, the number of suspects booked by the U.S. Marshals Service for criminal immigration offenses has gone up dramatically, a function of tougher law enforcement on the U.S. side of the border.

In a report released Wednesday, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics said the number of immigration-related apprehensions has steadily declined, peaking at 1.8 million in 2000 but dropping to 516,992 in 2010 — the lowest level since 1972.

"The U.S. economic slump, more economic stability in some Mexican areas, increased U.S. enforcement on the border and in the interior plus the drop in the total fertility rate in Mexico are likely among the reasons for this drop," said University of Texas sociology professor Nestor P. Rodríguez.

"On the other hand, arrests by federal authorities for immigration offenses is rising, no doubt partly due to greater enforcement efforts," said Rodríguez, who has spent decades studying Latino migration and the impact of U.S. immigration policies on immigrant communities.

Suspects arrested by the Marshals Service for federal criminal immigration offenses increased from 8,777 in 1994 to 82,438 in 2010.

In a seven-year span ending in 2010, the number of border patrol officers nearly doubled, from 10,819 to 20,558, the study says.

The number of Mexican citizens serving a federal prison term for an immigration offense increased from 2,074 in 1994 to 17,720 in 2010. Nine out of 10 immigration offenders in federal prison were convicted of illegal re-entry or illegal entry offenses. Ten percent were convicted of alien smuggling.

More than eight out of 10 deportable aliens in 2010 were citizens of Mexico. An increasing share of deportable aliens are coming from countries in Central America, 12 percent in 2010, up from 3 percent in 2002.

Arrests for Immigration Violations Plummet to Lowest Level in 40 Years | Fox News Latino

July 23, 2012
Judicial Watch

Newly released government records seem to indicate that the Obama Administration got to work right away on its stealth amnesty plan, drastically slashing the number of immigration apprehensions during its first two years in power.

Apprehensions for immigration violations plummeted dramatically from 1.8 million in 2000 to an all-time low of 516,992 in 2010, according to a report released this month by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The document was created by a special division of the DOJ (Bureau of Justice Statistics) that collects and disseminates information on crime and the operation of the justice system.

Less than two years into the Obama presidency, the number of immigration violation apprehensions was at the lowest level since 1972, according the federal report. Arrests, however, tripled from 25,205 to 82,438, but this is deceiving because apprehensions are instances in which foreign nationals are caught in the U.S. illegally. Arrests refer to the booking of an individual by U.S. Marshals for violating federal immigration law.

Under this formula, if a lot less illegal immigrants are getting “apprehended” or caught in the first place, simply increasing the number of actual “arrests” is not going to cut it. For the purpose of the DOJ stats, apprehensions and arrests represent events and not actual individuals because some illegal aliens could be apprehended or arrested on multiple occasions.

Not surprisingly, the core of the apprehensions took place at or near the Mexican border with the Tucson Arizona sector leading the way in 2010 with 212,202. The others are; San Diego (68,565), Rio Grande Valley (59,766), Laredo (35,287), El Centro (32,562) and Del Rio (14,694). An overwhelming chunk of the illegal immigrants, 83%, were citizens of Mexico though an increasing number (12%) came from Central American countries.

Here are a few other interesting stats revealed in the DOJ’s report, which keep in mind, only covers up to 2010. The most common immigration offense charged in federal court in 2010 was illegal reentry (81%) with two-thirds of the defendants having a prior felony arrest and more than half a prior felony conviction. They include large numbers of drug-related and violent felonies, according to the report.

The bottom line is that this appears to be yet another tidbit supporting the Obama Administration’s backdoor amnesty plan, which has become bolder over the years. Last month the president proudly announced—at a Rose Garden press conference—a controversial plan to spare nearly 1 million young illegal immigrants from deportation, even as the administration works behind the scenes granting stealth amnesty to many more undocumented aliens.

As of the end of May, 4,585 deportation cases were closed under a special Homeland Security program—prosecutorial discretion—created last summer to conduct “an unprecedented review of all immigration cases pending in the immigration courts and incoming cases.” The number continues rising, according to ICE figures obtained by a nonpartisan data research center that studies the government.

DOJ: Immigration Apprehensions Lowest Since 1972 | Judicial Watch

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