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Deportation, prosecution of immigrants skyrockets in US
by Mira Oberman
Fri Sep 22, 10:08 AM ET


As the political rhetoric heats up in the United States over illegal immigration ahead of the November congressional elections, a quieter battle is being waged in courtrooms.

A crackdown on immigrants convicted of even minor crimes has led to a massive increase in federal prosecutions and deportations of immigrants in the United States over the past 10 years.

Prosecutors say they are targeting immigrants convicted of drug and assault offences but advocates say immigrants are being unfairly targeted, noting that some have been deported for shoplifting.

Others are being deported for simple illegal drug possession after having spent most of their lives in the United States.

That was because some minor crimes can be defined as aggravated felonies.

"If you're convicted of an aggravated felony, you're automatically deported" after serving your sentence, said Peter Fleury, an assistant federal public defender who works in Fort Worth, Texas. "And there's no hope of ever coming back. It's a lifetime ban."

The big shift came in 1997, when then-president Bill Clinton signed a measure making minor offences grounds for deportation. Deportations have climbed steadily since then and more than 200,000 people were kicked out of the country last year.

The bill also eliminated waivers that allowed judges to let immigrants with more than seven years of legal residency stay in the country.

"There's been a huge crackdown, which I don't think a lot of people know about," said Andrea Black, network coordinator for Detention Watch Network, a Washington-based coalition that advocates for immigrant detainees.

"And it really hasn't changed anything if you look at the (immigration) numbers," she said.

The estimated number of illegal immigrants in the United States has jumped from 5.0 million in 1996 to 11.5 million today. Resentment has grown among some Americans who feel as though these immigrants are taking advantage of the system or taking jobs from citizens.

Attempts at sweeping immigration reform collapsed recently as political schisms blocked a White House-backed plan to offer a type of amnesty to illegal immigrants and a House of Representatives plan to toughen penalties and beef up border security.

Once-silent immigrants have begun demanding recognition for their contributions to society and millions have taken to the streets in massive marches across the country. A growing number of business owners and industry groups have also picked up the banner, arguing that they would be forced to close if they could not employ undocumented workers.

There is little help for those caught in the criminal justice system. And the numbers are growing.

Prosecution for immigration-related crimes, like returning to the US after deportation, increased steadily from about 3,880 in 1995 to 18,322 in 2005, according to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

Immigrants also now make up a greater percentage of federal prisoners than convicted murderers, sex offenders, kidnappers and robbers combined at 11 percent of the more than 187,000 inmates in federal prisons, according to the Bureau of Prisons's 2005 State of the Bureau report.

And with a 98 percent detention rate before trial, immigrants are more likely to be held in jail before trial than suspects in any other crime, according to Department of Justice figures from 2003, the most recent available.

Once they are there they are unlikely to get out: 98 percent are convicted and 81 percent of immigration convicts are imprisoned.