Immigration
Homeland
Security deportations drop in 2014
(Photo: John Moore,
Getty Images)
The Department of
Homeland Security deported 414,481 undocumented immigrants from the country in
fiscal year 2014, a 5% drop from the previous year, according the new figures
released Friday.
The agency also for
the first time apprehended more people at the Southwest border from Central
America than those from Mexico, representing a major shift in illegal
immigration patterns into the U.S.
The country saw a
flood of unaccompanied minors from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, which
strained the capabilities of the department and prompted Republicans to blame
President Obama's immigration record for the surge.
Border Patrol
apprehended 229,178 Mexicans attempting to enter along the Southwest border,
but also caught 257,473 from other countries, the vast majority of those coming
from Central America.
Homeland Security
officials say the drop in overall deportations is due in part to the fact that
people from countries other than Mexico take longer to deport. While Border
Patrol agents can hand Mexicans directly over to their counterparts in that
nation, each undocumented immigrant caught from Central America must be housed,
processed and put on a plane to return to their country.
Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency primarily responsible for tracking down
undocumented immigrants living in the interior of the country, also reassigned
200 agents to focus on the flood of border-crossers, further lowering overall
deportation numbers. That left the agency with fewer people to track down
undocumented immigrants already living in the interior of the country.
Homeland Security
officials say another factor contributing to the decline in overall
deportations is the fact that the department focused its interior enforcement
operations on undocumented immigrants who fell into "priority"
categories, meaning they represented threats to national security, had criminal
records in the U.S. or were recent border-crossers. In 2014, 85% of people
deported by ICE had a criminal record, up from 67% in 2011.
Another complication
was the rise in local and state police agencies who refused to comply with the
administration's Secure Communities program. The program allows local police to
run the fingerprints of people they've arrested against national immigration
databases. If someone is flagged for an immigration violation, they would have
a "detainer" placed on them, allowing ICE agents to pick them up.
Last year, DHS
officials say more than 250 law enforcement agencies refused to hold detainers,
meaning 10,182 of them were released before ICE could pick them up.
"DHS's 2014
year-end enforcement statistics demonstrate that our front line officers and
agents continue to execute their critical mission in a smart and effective way,
focusing our resources on convicted criminals and those attempting to illegally
cross our nation's borders," said Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson
in a statement.
Some viewed the
figures as the latest vindication of Obama's decision to start focusing
enforcement only on undocumented immigrants who are dangerous or have criminal
records.
"This reports is
another affirmation of how much reforms DHS began in 2010 have improved the
immigration system while making the border safer," said Simon Rosenberg,
president of NDN, a Washington-based think tank. "Prioritizing criminals
in the interior of the country and those caught entering illegally neither
'ratcheted up' nor weakened enforcement – it made it smarter, more effective
and better."
Others viewed it as
further proof of an administration that has ignored its responsibility to
uphold the nation's immigration laws, which in turn has led to more waves of
undocumented immigrants trying to enter the country.
"The effective
result of the Administration's non-enforcement policy is that anyone in the
world who manages to get into the interior of the United States - by any means,
including overstaying a visa - is free to live, work, and claim benefits in the
United States at Americans' expense," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.
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