Thread: ICE enforcement priorities yield record results in FY 2010

I.C.E. News Releases

October 6, 2010

Top ICE enforcement priorities yield record results in FY 2010

More criminal aliens removed, more employers charged in worksite enforcement investigations

Today, ICE announced record-breaking enforcement results in fiscal year 2010, including the removal of more criminal aliens and the arrest of more employers of undocumented aliens than in any previous year in the agency's history. Below is a look at how the numbers break down.

Criminal Alien Enforcement
ICE attributes its increase in the removal of criminal aliens to the success of targeted enforcement programs such as Secure Communities and the Criminal Alien Program which focus on removing aliens who have been arrested or convicted of a crime, rather than releasing them back into the community. In particular, expansion of the Secure Communities program - which shares fingerprint information of individuals arrested in local custody with ICE - has contributed to ICE's enforcement record. In fact, 666 jurisdictions in 33 states now have this beneficial law enforcement information sharing capability.

In FY 2010:

•ICE removed more than 392,000 individuals
•ICE removed more than 195,000 convicted criminal aliens
•50 percent of the aliens ICE removed are convicted criminal aliens. Non-criminal aliens removed include recent border entrants and immigration fugitives.
•33 percent of the criminal aliens removed are considered the most serious offenders (Level 1) with rap sheets including murder, rape and major drug crimes.
•Aliens with other serious offenses like robbery or drug crimes (Level 2) accounted for 44 percent of convicted criminal alien removals.
•Convicted criminal removals include:
•More than 1,000 aliens convicted of homicide
•Nearly 6,000 aliens convicted of sex offenses
•Nearly than 45,000 aliens convicted for drugs offenses
•Nearly 28,000 aliens convicted for driving under the influence

Worksite Enforcement
In April 2009, Secretary Napolitano announced changes to ICE's worksite enforcement strategy -- which reduced the need for large-scale immigration enforcement actions where employees were arrested and instead focused on finding evidence to criminally charge employers and to increase the use of tools like I-9 audits, fines and debarment.

•This year, ICE criminally charged a record-breaking 180 owners, employers, managers and/or supervisors -- up from 135 in FY 2008 and 114 in FY 2009.
•ICE conducted more than 2,200 I-9 audits -- up from more than 1,400 in FY 2009.
•Since January 2009, ICE has imposed approximately $50 million in financial sanctions.
•ICE debarred 97 business and 49 individuals in FY 2010, up from 30 and 53, respectively, in FY 2009.

What Others Are Saying About ICE Enforcement Programs
"As the proud product of a family that immigrated to Houston, I am certainly sensitive to the immigration issue. At the Harris County Sheriff's Office, we leave it to other arms of government to decide who is illegal and who is not. But when someone is brought to my jail accused of committing a crime against the state of Texas, they should be subjected to all the laws. We use 287(g) and Secure Committees in tandem to find out which inmates need to have their immigration status looked at by ICE as soon as their local criminal case is over. The removal of illegal immigrants who come to the Houston area and commit local crimes keeps our community safer. We're not just the place where 287(g) was first put into action, but we're also a national model for how the program works smoothly at high volume and less than a day's drive from a national border."

-- Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Adrian Garcia

"Secure Communities is an excellent program that promotes information sharing between local law enforcement and ICE. The program identifies individuals who are here in our country illegally and commit serious crimes, without profiling or enforcement of federal immigration laws by our deputies. There's no additional workload for our staff and does not cost a dime to Fairfax County or to our residents."

-- Fairfax County Sheriff Stan Barry

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

Last Modified: Wednesday, October 6, 2010
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1010/101006washingtondc3.htm

Deportations of illegal immigrants climb to new record

By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 6, 2010; 4:22 PM

The Obama administration announced Wednesday that in the past year it deported more than 392,000 unauthorized immigrants - a record.

Officials at the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said that 195,000 of these removals, during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, were convicted criminals. They included more than 1,000 murderers, nearly 6,000 sex-offenders, 45,000 drug-offenders and 28,000 drunk drivers.

The percentage of deported unauthorized immigrants who are criminals has soared in recent years, in keeping with a new emphasis at the Department of Homeland Security to use immigration enforcement as a crime-fighting tool.

"We've made a decision to go after criminal aliens and prioritize them for removal," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. She added, "It has been another record-breaking year at ICE - one that has seen ICE enforce the law at record levels, and in sensible, firm and thoughtful ways."

The figure was just above the 2009 total of 389,834 - about a third of whom the government considered convicted criminals,according to the Associated Press.

Critics of the policy said that the tools being used to enforce immigration statutes - largely in conjunction with state and local law enforcement officials - were overly blunt and sweeping up unauthorized immigrants who had committed minor offenses, or no offense at all.

Immigrants who overstay their visas or enter the country without authorization are not considered criminals; unauthorized immigration is an administrative violation. The Obama administration has sought to distinguish such immigrants from those who have committed actual crimes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... ews&sub=AR

Published: Oct. 6, 2010
Updated: 1:24 p.m.

Immigration agency: Criminal deportations, employer arrests up

BY CINDY CARCAMO
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTERIMMIGRATION NEWS
CLICK HERE to read more immigration-related news.
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Immigration agents deported more criminals who were in the country illegally during the last fiscal year than in any previous year in the agency's history, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Wednesday.

In addition, immigration agents have ramped up their worksite enforcement strategy, charging a record number of employers and managers suspected of intentionally hiring illegal workers, immigration officials said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials released fiscal-year end numbers on Wednesday.

The agency's latest statistics are in line with the new presidential administration's refocus on deporting the "worse of worst" people in the country illegally and going after the most egregious employers of illegal workers and not just the workers themselves, officials said.
"As a result of a new strategic approach, Immigration and Customs Enforcement ... has indeed broken a number of records," Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said at a press conference in Washington, D.C.

Immigrant rights groups called the ICE report "spin" and "misleading."
In fiscal year 2010, immigration officials removed more than 392,000 people from the United States, according to ICE statistics. Nearly half – 95,000 – had criminal convictions.

Of those with criminal records:
•33 percent were considered serious offenders, including those convicted of murder, rape or major drug crimes.
•44 percent were "Level 2" offenders – convicted of robbery or lesser drug crimes.

Convicted criminal removals included:
•More than 1,000 aliens convicted of homicide
•Nearly 6,000 aliens convicted of sex offenses
•Nearly more than 45,000 aliens convicted for drugs offenses
•Nearly 28,000 aliens convicted for driving under the influence
The other half who were deported were those in the country illegally without a criminal conviction, including recent border entrants and immigration fugitives – people who ignored deportation orders.
CLICK HERE to read more about immigration-related news.

SECURE COMMUNITIES

Napolitano and ICE Director John Morton touted targeted enforcement programs such as Secure Communities, which shares fingerprint information of those arrested in local custody with immigration officials. As of Wednesday, 666 jurisdictions in 33 states are part of the program.

Click here to read more about the program in Orange County.

Immigrant rights groups contend that information from internal government documents on the Secure Communities program contradict the new statistics.

"...ICE's own records show that 79 percent of people deported due to S-Comm are not criminals or were picked up for lower level offenses," according to a statement issued by Center for Constitutional Rights. "...The program serves as a smokescreen for racial profiling, allowing police officers to stop people based solely on their appearance and arrest non-citizens, knowing that they will be deported, even if they were wrongfully arrested and are never convicted.
"Preliminary data confirms that some jurisdictions, such as Maricopa County, AZ, have abnormally high rates of non-criminal S-Comm deportations,'' the statement said.

The documents were obtained earlier this year through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the National Day Laborer Organization Network, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

CRACKING DOWN ON EMPLOYERS

High-profile and large-scale immigration enforcement actions were commonplace during President George W. Bush's administration, when mostly employees and not many employers were targeted.

The new administration said they would get away from Bush's approach and instead focus on finding evidence to criminally charge employers and increase in I-9 audits, and employer fines.

This fiscal-year, ICE criminally charged 180 owners, employers, managers or supervisors – the highest number in any previous year in the agency's history.

In contrast, 135 employers were charged in 2008 and 114 in 2009.

Other worksite enforcement statistics:
•ICE agents conducted more than 2,200 I-9 audits in fiscal-year 2010 – up from more than 1,400 in fiscal-year 2009.
• ICE agents have imposed about $50 million in financial sanctions since Jan. 2009.

When asked why immigration officials are focusing enforcement on criminals in the country illegally and not all illegal immigrants, Morton said they had to prioritize their resources.

"We have a limited number of resources given to us by Congress every year," he said.

Contact the writer: ccarcamo@ocregister.com or 714-796-7924

http://www.ocregister.com/news/immigrat ... r-ice.html

Deportations of illegal immigrants hit record high, officials announce

October 6, 2010 | 12:42 pm

More than 392,000 illegal immigrants were deported from the United States in fiscal year 2010, the highest number in the country’s history, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Wednesday.

“We have deployed unprecedented infrastructure, unprecedented technology, unprecedented manpower,â€