Written by Sandra Dibble
San Diego Tribune
Oct. 30, 2011
Deportations along the California-Mexico border rose sharply during the past fiscal year mainly because of U.S. efforts to disrupt smuggling routes and discourage migrants who keep making illegal crossings, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
During the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, the agency reported 33,006 removals in the region — an increase of more than 82 percent over the previous year. The latest figure is a record high for the California-Mexico region.
Deportations also reached an unprecedented level nationally, though the rise was far less steep. ICE this month reported 396,906 removals nationwide during fiscal 2011, an uptick of barely more than 1 percent over fiscal 2010.
Removals along the California-Mexico border are carried out through the agency’s San Diego Field Office, which covers San Diego and Imperial counties. That office’s newest annual deportation total ranked third nationally, after San Antonio (63,090) and Phoenix (56,198).
The dramatic boost in removals for the San Diego office was largely due to two “lateral repatriation programs” designed to deter persistent illegal border-crossers and thwart smugglers, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for ICE in San Diego.
In February, a local program was launched to target undocumented immigrants who are repeatedly caught at the San Diego border and transfer them to other jurisdictions for removal from the country. The San Diego office handles about 400 of those cases in a typical month, Mack said.
Also contributing to the soaring total was a national program spearheaded by Customs and Border Patrol that last year brought thousands of illegal immigrants who were detained in Arizona and Texas to San Diego for deportation, and those numbers were added to the San Diego tally as well, Mack said.
A primary rationale for the transfer programs is that deporting people farther away from where they entered the United States will make it tougher — and more expensive — for them to reconnect with their smugglers and try to cross again.
The ICE figures have sparked renewed discussion about the Obama administration’s deportation policy, which has placed greater focus on undocumented immigrants with criminal records. The national ICE statistics show that 55 percent of deportees in fiscal year 2011 had been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor — compared with 31 percent in 2008.
About 43 percent of deportees handled by the San Diego Field Office in the most recent fiscal year had criminal records.
Nationally, the major crime categories were traffic offenses, led by drunken driving. These were followed by crimes involving dangerous drugs, including use, possession and distribution; immigration violations; and assaults.
Deportations across the country have skyrocketed over the past decade, though the rate of increase has dropped over the past three years. One factor driving some of the increases has been the Secure Communities program launched in 2008 under then President George W. Bush, through which the fingerprints of detainees — anyone from shoplifters to killers — are checked for immigration violations, said Aarti Kohli, director of immigration policy at the Berkeley-based Warren Institute.
Andrea Guerrero, executive director of Equality Alliance San Diego, is among those challenging the administration’s immigration enforcement strategies.
“Increased deportations are not a fix to our broken immigration system,” she said. “Contrary to what the administration promised, the deportations are not focused on serious criminals. They are sweeping up misdemeanor offenders and non-criminals.”
Many immigrants are confused by the administration’s policy, said Lilia Velazquez, an immigration attorney in San Diego. “People tell me, ‘I was arrested, (but) didn’t the president say that people like us should not be arrested?’”
Others criticize President Barack Obama for being too lenient on border security and deportations.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., said the record-setting removal numbers for fiscal year 2011 are still too small to make a substantial impact.
“The administration refuses to ask for additional resources for deportations,” said Krikorian, who favors stronger limits on both legal and illegal immigration.
Peter Nuñez, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego who lectures at the University of San Diego, said it’s hard to argue against the administration’s official emphasis on deporting undocumented immigrants with criminal records. “But we can’t send a message at the same time that all other illegal (immigrants) are essentially immune from being removed or deported.”
At the Warren Institute, Kohli said the ultimate solution is wide-ranging immigration reform.
“There are a lot of things that are broken with our immigration system,” she said. “The one entity that could fix it, Congress, has been unable to do that.”
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/oct/30/transfer-programs-push-deportations-record-high/
