More than 15,000 deported from Northern California in past 12 months
By Matt O'Brien
Contra Costa Times
11/12/2008
The number of immigrants deported from Northern California increased by about 56 percent in the past year, according to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In the fiscal year that ended in October, 15,241 people were deported from a region that stretches from Bakersfield to the Oregon border, and a record 349,041 people were deported nationwide, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice.
The regional spike in deportations was sharper than the nation's 21 percent increase over the past year. Kice said it partly reflected the federal agency's effort to track down illegal immigrants housed in state and local jails.
"We're getting increasing cooperation from law enforcement with recognition that criminal aliens are a public safety issue," she said.
The number of people deported from Northern California was 9,782 in fiscal year 2007; 7,155 in 2006; and 6,046 in 2005. Along with undocumented immigrants, the numbers include convicts who may have green cards but are deportable because of the crimes they committed. Kice said, however, that the numbers do not include a smaller percentage of people who were arrested in Northern California but transferred to deportation proceedings elsewhere.
An increase in arrests made by fugitive operation teams around the region accounts for some of the spike. Those teams arrested 3,073 people in the 12 months leading up to Sept. 30, including 1,880 people described as immigration fugitives — or those who have ignored a judge's order that they be removed from the country. A total of 669 of the arrestees had criminal convictions. Hundreds were not specifically targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but nevertheless were picked up during the course of the operations because they were living in the country illegally.
Others were arrested in raids on businesses. In May, the agency conducted the biggest work site raid in recent Bay Area memory, arresting 63 workers at the El Balazo restaurant chain in the East Bay and San Francisco.
In September, the agency raided a chain of buffet restaurants in San Pablo, Vacaville and Vallejo, as well as a group of houses where unauthorized workers lived in cramped conditions. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the businesses used a Los Angeles firm to recruit undocumented Asian employees. Four owners pleaded guilty Oct. 23 to unlawful employment of illegal immigrants and could face fines and up to six months in prison, and two owners face an additional charge of concealing a felony.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/localnews/ci_10968330
