By Patrik Jonsson
The Christian Science Monitor
Jul 23, 2011
The US notched a record number of deportations of illegal immigrants in 2010, according to an analysis of government statistics, with the spike driven primarily by increased deportations of people stopped for drunken driving and other traffic violations.
Drunken driving incidents involving illegal immigrants are known to inflame public anger over border security, and the Obama administration's deportation crackdown could be seen as a practical, and potentially popular, response to a public safety issue.
But news of the traffic-related deportations also highlights a political problem for the administration. It risks loss of Hispanics' support for Democrats, even as it seems to do little to persuade those on the right, who insist that President Obama is bent on letting most illegal immigrants off the hook in anticipation of a national amnesty program, that the administration is serious about immigration enforcement.
"This is the strange world of immigration policy that we're in right now, where everyone is building their own narrative of how these things fit together," says Noah Pickus, co-director of the Brookings-Duke Immigration Policy Roundtable, in Durham, N.C. "For some, the idea that the Obama administration is taking a traffic violation, and driving immigration policy through that, is too much. On the other hand, the notion that we should use a lot more discretion and focus more on [immigrant] criminals is precisely what's too little for others."
Some 393,000 people were deported in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2010, about half of whom had committed crimes, according to an Associated Press analysis. The report, citing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data, stated that 27,635 people were deported after receiving drunken driving citations, compared with 10,851 in the last full year of the Bush administration. In addition, 13,028 people were deported for less serious traffic violations, three times the 4,527 who were deported two years earlier.
For some, especially in Democratic-leaning states including New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois, the report confirms concerns that Obama has not adhered to his promise of targeting only the "worst of the worst" for deportation. Several states are brawling with the administration over the Secure Communities program, announcing they are pulling out of it. Secure Communities uses a federal immigration database to help local police identify illegal immigrants among people charged with local crimes and misdemeanors.
Meanwhile, those who want tougher immigration enforcement point to recent ICE changes around prosecutorial discretion as evidence that the Obama administration does not intend to enforce the law aggressively.
They cite a June memo from ICE director John Morton that detailed different classes of illegal immigrants that ICE personnel should consider "sensitive" when deciding whether to prosecute for deportation. It included minors and the elderly, pregnant women, college graduates, and those who have been living in America for a long time.
In response, Rep. Lamar Smith (R) of Texas filed legislation that would curtail the administration's use of broad classifications to guide prosecutorial discretion. Representative Smith particularly pointed to a decrease in workplace immigration raids since the Bush years as an example of the Obama administration's reduced focus on broad-based immigration enforcement.
"The administration … knows the political reality that the vast majority of Americans want them to enforce the law, so they have to do the best not to enforce the law and yet convince the American people that they actually are," says Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which advocates stricter immigration laws.
Advocates for illegal immigrants say the facts – including this most recent deportation analysis – counter that argument.
Congressman Smith "forgets that President Obama deports more people – about 1,100 per day – than the last president or any president in modern history,” Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D) of Illinois told Congress Thursday in Washington. “He also forgets that we are seeing historically low levels of illegal immigration; that communities along the US-Mexico border are the most crime-free communities in our nation; and that immigration from Mexico is the lowest it has been in six decades."
Nevertheless, the contradiction between the president's "worst of the worst" promise and the fact that some immigrants have been ousted for minor traffic infractions is notable enough that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano pushed back at the Associated Press analysis of ICE statistics.
"The more serious offenders are still in prison," Secretary Napolitano told the AP on Thursday. "We're not going to see them reflected in the numbers until we can begin to remove them" after they undergo trial and serve their sentences.
Moreover, the growth in deportations linked to traffic violations is less a result of vigilance by the Department of Homeland Security than of local jurisdictions, which in increasing numbers are handing over illegal immigrants to federal authorities for prosecution, say immigration policy experts.
"There are bills across the states that are named after someone killed in an accident by someone who is here illegally, and there's enormous, up-close, personal, and hostile reactions to that, because the reaction is that if we [had] enforced our laws this never would have happened," says Mr. Pickus at Duke University.
At the same time, he adds, the emerging patchwork of state and local laws on illegal immigration is not helping to build the political trust that will be needed to build a "grand bargain" for federal immigration reform.
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/rising-number-illegal-immigrants-deported-traffic-offenses?page=full
Showing posts with label Expulsions in AK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Expulsions in AK. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Monday, November 22, 2010
Northwest deported fewer in fiscal year
Anchorage Daily News
11/20/10
SEATTLE -- New federal data shows that the number of deportations of illegal immigrants from Washington, Oregon and Alaska dropped by nearly 9 percent during the last fiscal year.
But deportations of immigrants whom the government considered convicted criminals continued to rise.
The new data released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows spans from Oct. 1, 2009, to Sept. 30, 2010. It shows that 9,833 people were deported from the Pacific Northwest -- the second year in a row overall removals have dropped in the region.
Forty-eight percent of the immigrants removed were considered convicted criminals by the government. Since 2007, the number of deportations in the Pacific Northwest of immigrants with criminal records has doubled, from 2,302 to 4,714 in 2010.
Nationwide, more than 392,000 people were removed from the country.
http://www.adn.com/2010/11/20/1564998/northwest-deported-fewer-in-fiscal.html
11/20/10
SEATTLE -- New federal data shows that the number of deportations of illegal immigrants from Washington, Oregon and Alaska dropped by nearly 9 percent during the last fiscal year.
But deportations of immigrants whom the government considered convicted criminals continued to rise.
The new data released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows spans from Oct. 1, 2009, to Sept. 30, 2010. It shows that 9,833 people were deported from the Pacific Northwest -- the second year in a row overall removals have dropped in the region.
Forty-eight percent of the immigrants removed were considered convicted criminals by the government. Since 2007, the number of deportations in the Pacific Northwest of immigrants with criminal records has doubled, from 2,302 to 4,714 in 2010.
Nationwide, more than 392,000 people were removed from the country.
http://www.adn.com/2010/11/20/1564998/northwest-deported-fewer-in-fiscal.html
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Deportations up 10 percent in Pacific Northwest
By MANUEL VALDES
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
July 17, 2009
SEATTLE -- Deportations from Washington, Oregon and Alaska jumped nearly 10 percent from a year ago, according to new figures from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Illegal immigrants with criminal records comprised 60 percent of the total - a significant jump from recent years when that figure hovered around 40 percent. ICE attributed the jump to its emphasis on deporting those with records.
For the first nine months of the federal fiscal year - October through June - more than 8,000 deportations originated from the Pacific Northwest, compared to 7,345 in the same period last year.
The new figures were a mixed bag for Pramila Jayapal, executive director of OneAmerica, a Seattle-based immigrant advocate group.
She has been encouraged by the actions of the Obama administration but would like to see more accountability from ICE, such as breaking down the types of crimes that prompted deportations.
"I'm very troubled, it is really important to distinguish who these criminal immigrants are ... distinguishing violent criminals from people who get picked up for misdemeanors," Jayapal said.
ICE does not release breakdowns of the crimes involved in deportations.
Meanwhile, proponents of stricter immigration rules said focusing on just those with criminal records is an incomplete approach.
The immigration issue has taken new spins as the Obama administration introduces new policies on enforcement, and Congress wrestles with writing a comprehensive immigration bill.
A work site raid in Bellingham, Wash., in February became a national issue after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ordered a review of the operation.
It was the first raid of the Obama administration, which had signaled that it wanted to move away from raids to focus on scrutinizing employers who hire illegal workers.
Earlier this month, Homeland Security released a list of 652 businesses nationwide that will receive audits of their work force - 26 are in the Pacific Northwest.
Neil Clark, field office director for ICE detention and removal operations in Seattle, said the agency will soon launch a program in the region called "Secure Communities" that works with local police to identify illegal immigrants with criminal records using fingerprint technology.
ICE has already opened a 24-hour command center in Washington where local law enforcement can check a person's background.
Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C., group that lobbies for stricter immigration rules, said focusing on people with criminal records does not serve as a deterrent to others who want to come to this country illegally.
"The administration is sending a signal, if you're not a serious criminal we're not going to be looking for you," Mehlman said.
Mehlman believes enforcement efforts also should include employers who hire undocumented workers and work site raids and other tactics to remove incentives for people to migrate to the United States.
"Deportation is a legitimate component (of immigration reform), but we're not going to solve this problem through deportation alone," he said.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_deportations_nw.html?source=mypi
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
July 17, 2009
SEATTLE -- Deportations from Washington, Oregon and Alaska jumped nearly 10 percent from a year ago, according to new figures from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Illegal immigrants with criminal records comprised 60 percent of the total - a significant jump from recent years when that figure hovered around 40 percent. ICE attributed the jump to its emphasis on deporting those with records.
For the first nine months of the federal fiscal year - October through June - more than 8,000 deportations originated from the Pacific Northwest, compared to 7,345 in the same period last year.
The new figures were a mixed bag for Pramila Jayapal, executive director of OneAmerica, a Seattle-based immigrant advocate group.
She has been encouraged by the actions of the Obama administration but would like to see more accountability from ICE, such as breaking down the types of crimes that prompted deportations.
"I'm very troubled, it is really important to distinguish who these criminal immigrants are ... distinguishing violent criminals from people who get picked up for misdemeanors," Jayapal said.
ICE does not release breakdowns of the crimes involved in deportations.
Meanwhile, proponents of stricter immigration rules said focusing on just those with criminal records is an incomplete approach.
The immigration issue has taken new spins as the Obama administration introduces new policies on enforcement, and Congress wrestles with writing a comprehensive immigration bill.
A work site raid in Bellingham, Wash., in February became a national issue after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ordered a review of the operation.
It was the first raid of the Obama administration, which had signaled that it wanted to move away from raids to focus on scrutinizing employers who hire illegal workers.
Earlier this month, Homeland Security released a list of 652 businesses nationwide that will receive audits of their work force - 26 are in the Pacific Northwest.
Neil Clark, field office director for ICE detention and removal operations in Seattle, said the agency will soon launch a program in the region called "Secure Communities" that works with local police to identify illegal immigrants with criminal records using fingerprint technology.
ICE has already opened a 24-hour command center in Washington where local law enforcement can check a person's background.
Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C., group that lobbies for stricter immigration rules, said focusing on people with criminal records does not serve as a deterrent to others who want to come to this country illegally.
"The administration is sending a signal, if you're not a serious criminal we're not going to be looking for you," Mehlman said.
Mehlman believes enforcement efforts also should include employers who hire undocumented workers and work site raids and other tactics to remove incentives for people to migrate to the United States.
"Deportation is a legitimate component (of immigration reform), but we're not going to solve this problem through deportation alone," he said.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_deportations_nw.html?source=mypi
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE: Eateries get fines; operators face time
BY ADAM WALLWORTH
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE - The first Northwest Arkansas case to involve members of a local immigration enforcement program ended with one maximum sentence and almost $300,000 in fines Monday.
Acambaro Mexican Restaurants, Garcia's Distributors Inc. and Garibaldi Restaurant were sentenced to probation and nearly $300,000 in fines for harboring and shielding illegal aliens for commercial gain.
Unlike the corporations, the four people who ran the businesses saw their charges reduced to misdemeanors. Charges of money laundering had been previously dropped.
Of the four operators, Arturo Reyes Jr., 35, was judged the most culpable and sentenced to six months in federal prison and ordered to pay $5,000 in fines.
His brother Armando Reyes, 33, was sentenced to five months in prison and ordered to pay $5,000 in fines.
The brothers pleaded guilty to knowingly hiring illegal aliens. They will be given credit for three months served in the Benton County jail.
Arturo Reyes' wife, Silvia Reyes, 36, was sentenced to three years' probation and ordered to pay $3,000 in fines.
Lucila Huaracha, 33, a bookkeeper, got three years' probation and $2,500 in fines.
Silvia Reyes and Huaracha pleaded guilty to entering the country illegally.
The four were among 19 arrested in morning raids conducted December 10, 2007. The raids sparked debate over the role of the Immigration Criminal Apprehension task force, which had just been created to allow local officers to enforce federal immigration laws.
The raid was dubbed the first major action taken by the task force, which seized more than $3 million in property and froze bank accounts. Police affidavits cited movements of large sums of cash that were termed unusual and a "flagrant disregard" for immigration and employment laws.
The plea agreement included misdemeanor sentences for the four defendants and a chance to pay $400,000 to avoid forfeiting property. U.S. District Judge Jimm L. Hendren questioned how people would perceive the case.
Hendren raised that question again before sentencing the corporations, which are solely owned by Arturo Reyes Sr., the patriarch of the Reyes family, several of whom filled the courtroom.
Hendren said he labored over the sentence, which he said could be seen as a payoff. A person arrested for transporting drugs wouldn't be allowed to pay the government to keep the car they were driving after it was seized, he said.
Milton DeJesus, attorney for the corporations, unsuccessfully argued that the corporations didn't have the money to pay fines and against looking to Arturo Reyes Jr. for the cash.
Hendren opted for fines less than the maximum, which could have topped out at $1.5 million in total for the three corporations. The largest fine was to Acambaro with multiple restuarant locations in Northwest Arkansas, at $250,000; Garcia's was fined $25,000 and Garibaldi's $20,000.
Acambaro was also given five years' probation; the other two were each given two years' probation.
Assistant U.S. attorney Chris Plumlee said he was satisfied with the outcome of the trial, which he said had always been against the corporations.
Plumlee said that managers of the various restaurants were hiring illegal aliens under the direction of the corporation's officers. He said that tying the crimes to the four was more difficult than proving the corporations were guilty.
"Our case against them was never as strong as it was against the corporations," Plumlee said.
Managers of the individual businesses were knowingly hiring illegal aliens, Plumlee said. Had there been more documentation, the government could have sought more serious charges against the brothers.
Plumlee said it wasn't very likely the Reyes brothers would have seen the 10 years in prison that the original charges brought. He said that even if they had been convicted of the nexthighest charge - knowingly hiring 10 or more illegal aliens in a year - that would have had a maximum sentence of only 12-18 months.
The case was a difficult one to build, Plumlee said. It was also not a task force case, he said, having begun in 2006, before the group was even formed. The Reyes brothers are to report to federal prison June 12. All four face deportation proceedings.
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/258329/
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE - The first Northwest Arkansas case to involve members of a local immigration enforcement program ended with one maximum sentence and almost $300,000 in fines Monday.
Acambaro Mexican Restaurants, Garcia's Distributors Inc. and Garibaldi Restaurant were sentenced to probation and nearly $300,000 in fines for harboring and shielding illegal aliens for commercial gain.
Unlike the corporations, the four people who ran the businesses saw their charges reduced to misdemeanors. Charges of money laundering had been previously dropped.
Of the four operators, Arturo Reyes Jr., 35, was judged the most culpable and sentenced to six months in federal prison and ordered to pay $5,000 in fines.
His brother Armando Reyes, 33, was sentenced to five months in prison and ordered to pay $5,000 in fines.
The brothers pleaded guilty to knowingly hiring illegal aliens. They will be given credit for three months served in the Benton County jail.
Arturo Reyes' wife, Silvia Reyes, 36, was sentenced to three years' probation and ordered to pay $3,000 in fines.
Lucila Huaracha, 33, a bookkeeper, got three years' probation and $2,500 in fines.
Silvia Reyes and Huaracha pleaded guilty to entering the country illegally.
The four were among 19 arrested in morning raids conducted December 10, 2007. The raids sparked debate over the role of the Immigration Criminal Apprehension task force, which had just been created to allow local officers to enforce federal immigration laws.
The raid was dubbed the first major action taken by the task force, which seized more than $3 million in property and froze bank accounts. Police affidavits cited movements of large sums of cash that were termed unusual and a "flagrant disregard" for immigration and employment laws.
The plea agreement included misdemeanor sentences for the four defendants and a chance to pay $400,000 to avoid forfeiting property. U.S. District Judge Jimm L. Hendren questioned how people would perceive the case.
Hendren raised that question again before sentencing the corporations, which are solely owned by Arturo Reyes Sr., the patriarch of the Reyes family, several of whom filled the courtroom.
Hendren said he labored over the sentence, which he said could be seen as a payoff. A person arrested for transporting drugs wouldn't be allowed to pay the government to keep the car they were driving after it was seized, he said.
Milton DeJesus, attorney for the corporations, unsuccessfully argued that the corporations didn't have the money to pay fines and against looking to Arturo Reyes Jr. for the cash.
Hendren opted for fines less than the maximum, which could have topped out at $1.5 million in total for the three corporations. The largest fine was to Acambaro with multiple restuarant locations in Northwest Arkansas, at $250,000; Garcia's was fined $25,000 and Garibaldi's $20,000.
Acambaro was also given five years' probation; the other two were each given two years' probation.
Assistant U.S. attorney Chris Plumlee said he was satisfied with the outcome of the trial, which he said had always been against the corporations.
Plumlee said that managers of the various restaurants were hiring illegal aliens under the direction of the corporation's officers. He said that tying the crimes to the four was more difficult than proving the corporations were guilty.
"Our case against them was never as strong as it was against the corporations," Plumlee said.
Managers of the individual businesses were knowingly hiring illegal aliens, Plumlee said. Had there been more documentation, the government could have sought more serious charges against the brothers.
Plumlee said it wasn't very likely the Reyes brothers would have seen the 10 years in prison that the original charges brought. He said that even if they had been convicted of the nexthighest charge - knowingly hiring 10 or more illegal aliens in a year - that would have had a maximum sentence of only 12-18 months.
The case was a difficult one to build, Plumlee said. It was also not a task force case, he said, having begun in 2006, before the group was even formed. The Reyes brothers are to report to federal prison June 12. All four face deportation proceedings.
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/258329/
Monday, April 13, 2009
NW Arkansas Focus: Springdale alien roundup raises questions
BY ADAM WALLWORTH
Arkansas Democrat Gazette
April 13, 2009
Deportation cases against two dozen illegal aliens apprehended in a recent raid at two Springdale houses highlight an inconsistency in how such cases are handled.
The cases also reveal a continuing problem with some business owners who hire aliens but then don't pay them, law enforcement and immigration experts said. That happens frequently because the owners know the illegal workers likely will not report them to authorities, they said.
The Springdale raid occurred after a local immigrant advocate tipped police about the squalid conditions where the workers were living after having been promised money to help lay underground cable. More than 30 people had worked for up to a month but had not been paid, according to a federal affidavit.
Five left the area after not being paid, but 26 others couldn't afford to leave and continued to live in the two small houses on East Allen Street.
When members of the local immigration task force arrived at one of the houses at 9:05 a.m. March 26, they found dozens of mattresses spread on the floors. There was no furniture or food in the house, and the heater was not working. The temperature that morning was 45 degrees, according to the affidavit.
The workers had not eaten for more than two days, Ana Hart, executive director of Just Communities, told police after a lawyer contacted her about the situation.
"Where there would be normally a small living room, dining area, all of that was mattresses. Very few blankets or bedding of any kind," Hart said. "To the right, another small room was the same - bedding, mattresses, no furniture. There were probably 15 to 17 people that called that place home. The situation was very inhumane."
The houses had been rented by Marcio De Oliveira for a total of $800 a month, according to the affidavit. De Oliveira owns Molink Underground Construction Services of Ooltewah, Tenn.
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/257195/
Arkansas Democrat Gazette
April 13, 2009
Deportation cases against two dozen illegal aliens apprehended in a recent raid at two Springdale houses highlight an inconsistency in how such cases are handled.
The cases also reveal a continuing problem with some business owners who hire aliens but then don't pay them, law enforcement and immigration experts said. That happens frequently because the owners know the illegal workers likely will not report them to authorities, they said.
The Springdale raid occurred after a local immigrant advocate tipped police about the squalid conditions where the workers were living after having been promised money to help lay underground cable. More than 30 people had worked for up to a month but had not been paid, according to a federal affidavit.
Five left the area after not being paid, but 26 others couldn't afford to leave and continued to live in the two small houses on East Allen Street.
When members of the local immigration task force arrived at one of the houses at 9:05 a.m. March 26, they found dozens of mattresses spread on the floors. There was no furniture or food in the house, and the heater was not working. The temperature that morning was 45 degrees, according to the affidavit.
The workers had not eaten for more than two days, Ana Hart, executive director of Just Communities, told police after a lawyer contacted her about the situation.
"Where there would be normally a small living room, dining area, all of that was mattresses. Very few blankets or bedding of any kind," Hart said. "To the right, another small room was the same - bedding, mattresses, no furniture. There were probably 15 to 17 people that called that place home. The situation was very inhumane."
The houses had been rented by Marcio De Oliveira for a total of $800 a month, according to the affidavit. De Oliveira owns Molink Underground Construction Services of Ooltewah, Tenn.
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/257195/
Friday, July 11, 2008
Deportations up 40 percent in Pacific Northwest
By MANUEL VALDES
Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 11, 2008
Deportations from Washington, Oregon and Alaska have spiked by nearly 40 percent, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Friday.
Immigration officials said the number of illegal aliens deported from those three states was 7,345 for the first nine months of the fiscal year. That number was up from 5,256 for the same period last year.
If the monthly average continues, the agency is on pace for a record-breaking year in the region, said Neil Clark, field office director for ICE detention and removal operations in Seattle.
Officials credit the increase in part to expansion of the Criminal Alien Program, in which immigration officers hone in on illegal aliens with criminal records and work with local law enforcement to process them. Those deportations increased by 26 percent in the same period. Of the more than 7,300 deported, more than 2,000 had prior criminal convictions.
"If you think of ICE's mission being public safety, the Criminal Alien Program really goes at the heart of that," agency spokeswoman Lori Dankers said.
The number of immigration officers visiting jails throughout the three states has increased.
"I think the message from this is if you're committing crime and you're foreign born, you're going to be found and be removed," Clark said.
Immigration investigations and work-site raids have also helped increase deportations, Clark added.
Last month, 32 illegal aliens were arrested at a manufacturing plant in Arlington, Wash., that supplies parts for commercial and military aircraft, including some made by Boeing. In 2007, 51 people were arrested at a United Parcel Service warehouse in Auburn, Wash., and more
than 165 workers were detained at a Del Monte processing plant in Portland, Ore.
The latest numbers reflect the continuing crackdown on illegal immigration by ICE and other federal agencies. Nationwide, the number of deportations in the period increased from 210,000 to more than 234,000, about an 11 percent increase.
Between June 2007 and June 2008, nearly 6,000 people have been added to the Criminal Alien Program in Washington. That means ICE will monitor those who are in jail and deport them after the sentence is served. More than 4,500 people were added in Oregon.
ICE officials said they did not have specific breakdowns of the number of aliens convicted of felonies rather than less-serious misdemeanors.
Pramila Jayapal, executive director of OneAmerica, a Seattle-based immigrant advocate group, said the increase in deportation makes her worry about the protection of due process rights.
A surge in deportations, Jayapal said, means more overcrowding and medical risks for illegal immigrants at detention centers.
"The whole thing requires a call on Congress to stop the surge of deportation until we can make sure we can protect the rights of people that are being picked up," Jayapal said.
OneAmerica is scheduled to release a report next week that alleges human rights have been violated at the detention center in Tacoma, which serves the Northwest.
Backers of illegal immigration enforcement said the increase in deportations is a good sign, but they add that more penalties are needed for employers who hire illegal immigrants.
"Immigration authorities are out looking, that serves as discouragement for people coming here in the first place," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Nationally, Mexico remains the leading country of origin for deported illegal immigrants, followed by Honduras and Guatemala.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 11, 2008
Deportations from Washington, Oregon and Alaska have spiked by nearly 40 percent, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Friday.
Immigration officials said the number of illegal aliens deported from those three states was 7,345 for the first nine months of the fiscal year. That number was up from 5,256 for the same period last year.
If the monthly average continues, the agency is on pace for a record-breaking year in the region, said Neil Clark, field office director for ICE detention and removal operations in Seattle.
Officials credit the increase in part to expansion of the Criminal Alien Program, in which immigration officers hone in on illegal aliens with criminal records and work with local law enforcement to process them. Those deportations increased by 26 percent in the same period. Of the more than 7,300 deported, more than 2,000 had prior criminal convictions.
"If you think of ICE's mission being public safety, the Criminal Alien Program really goes at the heart of that," agency spokeswoman Lori Dankers said.
The number of immigration officers visiting jails throughout the three states has increased.
"I think the message from this is if you're committing crime and you're foreign born, you're going to be found and be removed," Clark said.
Immigration investigations and work-site raids have also helped increase deportations, Clark added.
Last month, 32 illegal aliens were arrested at a manufacturing plant in Arlington, Wash., that supplies parts for commercial and military aircraft, including some made by Boeing. In 2007, 51 people were arrested at a United Parcel Service warehouse in Auburn, Wash., and more
than 165 workers were detained at a Del Monte processing plant in Portland, Ore.
The latest numbers reflect the continuing crackdown on illegal immigration by ICE and other federal agencies. Nationwide, the number of deportations in the period increased from 210,000 to more than 234,000, about an 11 percent increase.
Between June 2007 and June 2008, nearly 6,000 people have been added to the Criminal Alien Program in Washington. That means ICE will monitor those who are in jail and deport them after the sentence is served. More than 4,500 people were added in Oregon.
ICE officials said they did not have specific breakdowns of the number of aliens convicted of felonies rather than less-serious misdemeanors.
Pramila Jayapal, executive director of OneAmerica, a Seattle-based immigrant advocate group, said the increase in deportation makes her worry about the protection of due process rights.
A surge in deportations, Jayapal said, means more overcrowding and medical risks for illegal immigrants at detention centers.
"The whole thing requires a call on Congress to stop the surge of deportation until we can make sure we can protect the rights of people that are being picked up," Jayapal said.
OneAmerica is scheduled to release a report next week that alleges human rights have been violated at the detention center in Tacoma, which serves the Northwest.
Backers of illegal immigration enforcement said the increase in deportations is a good sign, but they add that more penalties are needed for employers who hire illegal immigrants.
"Immigration authorities are out looking, that serves as discouragement for people coming here in the first place," said Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Nationally, Mexico remains the leading country of origin for deported illegal immigrants, followed by Honduras and Guatemala.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)