Record number of Deportation in FY 2011

Federal immigration authorities deported a record number of illegal immigrants in fiscal year 2011 (October 2010 to October 2011). An Office of Immigration Statistics report released Friday said nearly 392,000 people were deported. Another 429,000 foreign nationals were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is also an all-time high. Another record is the number of illegal immigrants who are convicted criminals who were deported: 188,000. The Obama administration has come under fire from immigrant-rights activists in the Inland area and elsewhere for the large number of deportations under its watch. Inland activists I’ve talked to said many people they know without criminal records – or people only accused or convicted of minor crimes — have been deported in the past few years and there is a palatable fear in immigrant neighborhoods. The Obama administration, though, has said it is concentrating its efforts on serious criminals. There is only one month left in fiscal year 2012, and so far, even though the total number of deportations are on track to decline slightly compared to 2011, the number of convicted criminals deported is already ahead of last year. More than 191,000 have already been deported. The Obama administration has been trying to please both sides on the immigration issue – largely without success. Its recent granting of relief from deportation for hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants who have lived for at least five years in the United States earned praise from immigration activists. But many, including some in the Inland area I’ve talked to, remain disillusioned with Obama for the pace of deportations. Yet supporters of tougher policies on illegal immigration haven’t given Obama much credit for the record number of deportations. Some political analysts say the large number of deportations have been part of an Obama administration effort to increase Republican support for a comprehensive immigration bill that would offer legal residency to millions of undocumented immigrants. But GOP support for such a bill never materialized. And conservatives have criticized Obama for increasingly focusing on criminals, with some saying that that policy, along with the delayed deportations for many young immigrants, are forms of amnesty because many undocumented immigrants have been taken out of consideration for deportation. September 8, 2012