Thread: Record number of criminal immigrants deported

Record number of criminal immigrants deported

Suzanne Gamboa, Associated Press
Saturday, July 23, 2011

Washington --

Huge increases in deportations of people after they were arrested for breaking traffic or immigration laws or driving drunk helped the Obama administration set a record last year for the number of criminal immigrants forced to leave the country, documents show.

The U.S. deported nearly 393,000 people in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, half of whom were considered criminals. Of those, 27,635 had been arrested for drunken driving, more than double the 10,851 deported after drunken driving arrests in 2008, the last full year of the Bush administration, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data provided to the Associated Press.

An additional 13,028 were deported last year after being arrested on less serious traffic law violations, nearly three times the 4,527 traffic offenders deported two years earlier, according to the data.

The spike in the numbers of people deported for traffic offenses as well as a 78 percent increase in people deported for immigration-related offenses renewed skepticism about the administration's claims that it is focusing on the most dangerous criminals.

President Obama regularly says his administration is enforcing immigration laws more wisely than his predecessor by focusing on arresting the "worst of the worst." He promised in his 2008 presidential campaign to focus immigration enforcement on dangerous criminals.

Most of the immigrants deported last year had committed drug-related crimes. They totaled 45,003, compared with 36,053 in 2008. Drug-related crime - described as the manufacture, distribution, possession or sale of drugs - has been the No. 1 crime among immigration for years.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said most people in the United States are arrested for misdemeanor offenses. But she said the percentage of felons deported will change over time.

"The more serious offenders are still in prison," she said. "We're not going to see them reflected in the numbers until we can begin to remove them."

The issue is one Obama is trying to carefully navigate in his bid for a second term as he relies on the record deportations numbers to bolster his tough-on-enforcement stance while trying to convince immigrant and Latino voters he deserves more time to get a comprehensive immigration bill through Congress.

There are an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally, 7 million to 8 million of whom are believed to be adults.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1KDQUK.DTL

Related:

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-244426-deported.html