ICE expects to deport record number of illegals this year

by Jim Cross/KTAR

The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency expects to deport a record number of illegal immigrants from Arizona this year.

Vinnie Picard with ICE said almost 39,000 illegal immigrants have been deported from Arizona since last October, up more than 5,000 from the same timeframe last year. That number is expected to top 50,000 by this coming October, when ICE ends its fiscal year.

A lot of credit goes to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Picard said.

“Maricopa County, since the program began last year, has identified 14,209 foreign-born criminals that have been targeted for removal from the United States,â€