New data has indicated that the Obama Administration is on pace to deport the fewest number of undocumented immigrants in a decade, tracing back to the middle of President George W. Bush’s second term. This comes as President Obama continues to fight the legal battle over the constitutionality of his executive actions, extending protection from immediate deportation to over 4 million undocumented immigrants.
“With the resources we have … I’m interested in focusing on criminals and recent illegal arrivals at the border,” Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said yesterday in a Senate Oversight Committee hearing. “There’s lower intake, lower apprehensions. There are fewer people attempting to cross the southern border, and there are fewer people apprehended.”
Secretary Johnson has instructed immigration authorities to renew focus on removing those individuals who pose a national security or public safety threat, those who have criminal backgrounds. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has similarly shifted focus to accommodate the influx of children and families, deploying a variety of resources to the border and opening family detention centers.
“They are increasingly from noncontiguous countries, and the process of a removal of someone from a noncontiguous country is more time-consuming,” Secretary Johnson said, pointing to the difficulties in deporting individuals given the change in who is crossing the border en masse. “You see greater claims for humanitarian relief, for asylum, and so it’s not as simple as just sending somebody back across the border.”
The government is currently on pace to send home about 236,000 undocumented immigrants by September, the lowest figure since 2006.
Recent Comments