Thread: ICE detentions at all-time high in 2011

Last year DHS deported 392k and ICE held a record number of undocumented immigrants

Written by Elizabeth Aguilera
11:09 a.m., Sept. 7, 2012
San Diego Union Tribune


In this March 30, 2012 photo, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent waits with other agents outside of the home of a suspect before dawn as part of a nationwide immigration sweep in San Diego. Federal officials say they arrested more than 3,100 immigrants convicted of serious crimes and fugitives in a six-day nationwide sweep. Officials at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement say the sweep included every state and involved more than 1,900 of the agency’s officers and agents. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

In 2011 Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained an all-time high 429,247 undocumented immigrants, up 18 percent from the year before, according to a Department of Homeland Security report released Friday.

Of those detained, Mexican nationals accounted for 67 percent, up from 60 percent of detainees the year before. Others nationalities in the most detained group are Guatemalan, Honduran and El Salvadoran.

The report "Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2011" is a compilation of statistics from the federal agency which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The U.S. Border Patrol is part of Customs and Border Protection.

DHS reported the agency deported, or removed, 391,953 people in 2011, up from 385,100 in 2010. It's unclear how many of those who were detained by ICE were eventually removed.

The 2011 figure in the report released Friday is a bit smaller than the number reported at the end of the fiscal year of 396,000.

Another difference involves the number of those who were removed/deported who had criminal records. At the end of last year the agency said 55 percent of those deported had some sort of criminal conviction, including immigration violations, but the figures released Friday show 48 percent had such convictions, or 188,382. Of those 20 percent are for immigration-related offenses.

We have a request in to the agency to explain the differences. Stay tuned.

Read the report HERE.

ICE detentions at all-time high in 2011 | UTSanDiego.com