ImmigrationCritics: administration does not deport deportation-eligible undocumented immigrants
A recent report by the Center for Immigration Studies(CIS), a Washington, D.C. nonprofit calling for more restrictive immigration policies, says that in 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported fewer than 195,000 illegal immigrants despite receiving more than 720,000 notices on immigrants who could be eligible for deportation. Moreover, 68,000 immigrants released from pending deportation cases had criminal convictions on their records, the report stated. Pro-immigration advocates say the figures are misleading. “CIS is essentially asserting that a legal-permanent resident or a recently naturalized citizen with a broken tail light should be charged by ICE and removed from the country although there is no basis in law for such action,” said Benjamin Johnson of the American Immigration Council.
A recent report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a Washington, D.C. nonprofit calling for more restrictive immigration policies, says that in 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported fewer than 195,000 illegal immigrants despite receiving more than 720,000 notices on immigrants who could be eligible for deportation. Moreover, 68,000 immigrants released from pending deportation cases had criminal convictions on their records, the report stated. “These numbers confirm that interior enforcement has been anything but tough — that in fact, ICE is releasing more illegal aliens and more criminal aliens than they’re trying to remove,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at CIS.
The American Immigration Council (AIC), a pro-immigration organization, says the CIS report and its figures are misleading. AIC claims that more than 720,000 immigrants identified by ICE had minor violations which were not subject to deportation. “CIS is essentially asserting that a legal-permanent resident or a recently naturalized citizen with a broken tail light should be charged by ICE and removed from the country although there is no basis in law for such action,” said Benjamin Johnson, AIC’s executive director.
The Washington Times reports that President Barack Obama recently directly DHS and ICE to find more “humane” ways to conduct deportations, and that that directive, along with a 2012 policy granting tentative legal status to more than 500,000 young adult illegal immigrants, have led conservatives to charge Obama as being soft on immigration enforcement.
The number of deportations has decreased by 10 percent in 2013, to just under 370,000, and is on pace to decrease by another 10 percent this year to 325,000. The CIS report, and other who are critical of the administration’s immigration policies, continue to suggest that immigration agents are not enforcing deportations laws effectively. “The preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that immigration enforcement in America has collapsed,” said Senator Jeff Sessions (-Alabama) who has fought undocumented immigrant legalization efforts in Congress. “Even those with criminal convictions are being released. DHS is a department in crisis.”
The Times notes that illegal immigrants may escape or face deportation depending on where they are caught. Agents in Los Angeles released 81 percent of illegal immigrants they encountered, while San Diego agents released 5 percent, according to the CIS report.
Former acting director of ICE, John Sandweg, supports the administration’s more nuanced approach to who should and who should not be deported. He argued that illegal immigrants should generally be allowed to remain in the country. “To be sure, those who repeatedly cross our borders illegally or abscond from the immigration court bear culpability. However, making this population a priority detracts from ICE’s ability to track down and arrest the increasing number of much more serious public safety threats the agency identifies,” he wrote in the Los Angeles Times.
