http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/583471.html

More than 10,000 immigrants were deported in the past year from Alaska, Oregon and Washington, an increase of 37 percent over the year before, according to new numbers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Immigration officials said 10,602 were deported to their country of origin between October 2007 and September 2008, up from 7,688.

The deportees are both illegal immigrants and permanent residents -- in the country legally but not citizens -- who have committed crimes.

ICE would not release the number of people living in Alaska when deportation proceedings were initiated. The Alaska Department of Corrections said it held roughly 100 people for ICE in that time period, but it couldn't say whether those people were being deported.

Alaska deportees are sent to a detention facility outside of Seattle.

The spike in deportations reflects a continuing nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration by ICE and other federal agencies. Nationwide, the number of deportations in the period increased from 290,000 to more than 345,000, an increase of almost 19 percent. Deportations have reached record levels. The majority are deported to Mexico and other Latin American countries, according to ICE deportation statistics.

Immigration officials credited part of the increase to the Criminal Alien Program, in which immigration officers sweep jails looking for undocumented immigrants and permanent residents. Deportations of immigrants with criminal backgrounds increased by 33 percent in the same period.

Of the more than 10,000 deported from the Pacific Northwest, more than 3,000 had prior criminal convictions.

"The numbers indicate we're getting these people and removing them before they get a chance to go back to the streets," said Neil Clark, field office director for ICE detention and removal operations in Seattle.

Immigration investigations and work-site raids also contributed to the deportations, agency spokeswoman Lori Dankers said.

According to a 2005 Pew Research Center study, more than 300,000 illegal immigrants live in the Pacific Northwest. Compared to Washington and Oregon, Alaska is estimated to have a very low number of undocumented immigrants, likely less than 10,000, according to the U.S. Census.

The majority of the state's Hispanic population was born in the U.S., according to the Census.

"It's one thing to talk about numbers, but the thing the people have to understand, is that behind the numbers, there are individuals and human beings ... Many families have been torn apart," said Jorge L. Baron of the Northwest Immigration Rights Project. "It's a reflection of our broken immigration system."

Local immigration lawyers say they've seen a steady increase in deportations since 9/11.

There is no organized system for screening criminals for citizenship status in Alaska's corrections system, according to Richard Schmitz, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections.

Sometimes police find illegal immigrants during arrests. Inmates are asked their country of birth when they are booked. Citizenship status may also come to light in the court process. According to official statistics, there are currently only 19 people born outside the U.S. among the many thousands in the system, Schmitz said.

"They are very inconsistent," said Michael Stahl, an immigration attorney. "I have clients that have been in the U.S. long enough that they appear to be Americans and corrections people never pick up on them."

Permanent residents can be deported for an array of crimes including felonies, weapons offenses, domestic violence, drugs, and a category called crimes of "moral turpitude," which depends on a judge's interpretation.

The ongoing spike in deportations will also test the processing at a privately run Tacoma immigration lockup operated by the Boca Raton, Fla.-based GEO Group. GEO plans to expand the facility by 50 percent, to a capacity of 1,500 detainees.

This week, an administrator in charge of hiring at the detention center pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about hiring practices at the center. An investigation found that nearly 100 security guards were hired without background checks. ICE didn't catch onto the practice for two years, court documents show.