Deportations Hit Record High

More than 392,000 illegal immigrants were deported from the United States in fiscal year 2010, the highest number in the country’s history, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Wednesday.

“We have deployed unprecedented infrastructure, unprecedented technology, unprecedented manpower,” Napolitano said during a news conference in Washington, D.C.

Napolitano and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton attributed the numbers to increased border enforcement, workplace enforcement and an expansion of the department’s Secure Communities program.

Secure Communities, which uses fingerprints to identify illegal immigrants in state prisons and local jails, has gone from 14 jurisdictions in 2008 to more than 660, officials said. The department is on track to expand the program to every law-enforcement jurisdiction in the nation by 2013, Napolitano said.

Half of deported immigrants in the last fiscal year were convicted of crimes, Napolitano said. Of those, 33% were convicted of what ICE considered the most serious crimes, which included murder, rape and major drug crimes. The others were convicted of lesser crimes such as burglary, domestic violence, some property crimes and other offenses.

“The numbers reflect our continued focus on those who pose a public-safety threat to our communities,” Napolitano said.

In addition, since January 2009, ICE has audited more than 3,200 employers suspected of hiring illegal labor, debarred 225 companies and individuals, and imposed about $50 million in financial sanctions—more than the total amount of audits and debarments than during the entire previous administration, she said.

A coalition of immigrant-rights groups, including the Center for Constitutional Rights and the National Day Laborer Organization Network, called the numbers misleading and said that statistics obtained from ICE showed that nearly 80% of people detained through the Secure Communities program were not criminals or were arrested for lower-level offenses.

Sheriff Lee Baca, who attended the news conference alongside Adrian Garcia, sheriff of Harris County in Texas, and Stan Barry, the sheriff of Virginia's Fairfax County, called the announcement “very good news” and said his department had identified 21,000 people in its jails eligible for deportation.

“Secure Communities does work,” Baca said. “It’s an excellent policy.”

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...-announce.html

I'm saddened by this news :// Obama needs some balls to enact some meaningful immigration reform.

I don't believe that there were almost 400,000 criminals deported. 30% to 45% of total deported being criminals sound about right. The rest are normal people. Damn, Obama does need to shake his administration up, I agree.
I read an article on the forum about how lower level ICE personal abuse the system and don't give a shit about internal recommendations. Therefore, many get deported because of some prick who wants to move up carrier ladder. Most of ICE workers are heartless pricks. You can't be normal to work there.
One positive point of these news is that it can be used as powerful point showing that legalization can be done NOW or in near future as system works in fighting illegal criminals and border crossings with high efficiency. I doubt Republicans will give a shit but it's worth the try.

Everybody, please don't get caught.

Is there a source where we can find out which jurisdiction/city/county have the "safe communities" enacted ?

Do you guys think that the rise is deportation is the result that sometype of reform is coming? i know that before the passage of the amnesty in 1986 people would be stopped at random while wakling on the streets. any thoughts?

What you've described is exactly what happens. Once you get put in deportation proceedings, if you receive a final order of removal/deportation, and do not leave, you will be treated the same as a drug dealer; rapist, child molestor, etc. This happened to me and may family; the ICE agents were assholes; made up a story to get us detained (even though they were not looking for us). I know their names and have their cell phone numbers on the record on my phone statement. They played games with my USC family members, calling them as well, and saying that they could come and get us twice, then calling them back and saying that they'd changed their minds so they could send us to a detention center and collect $20,000 in bond fees.

To anyone here who dares to question my disdain for this administration's immigration policies, I say, wait and see how you feel if this were to happen to you.

No. The incidents of 1986 were racial profiling; the deportation enforcement of today is institutionalized by the government.

You're right about that, I lived at some apartments and some hipanic guy worked for ICE lived next to me. Sometimes we'd talk/drink a beer and he would tell me how much he enjoyed deporting "mojados" and he'd tell me how his family came from Cuba and they adapted to America and were Republicans.....blah blah!!

Some young vatos (from mexico) broke into his truck and were trying to steal it, the guy from ICE caught them and I don't know how he did it, but they (ICE) raided the apt. of the kids that broke into his truck and deported the whole family.

That was some cold shit...what that cuban did!

For every 1 person "safe communities" effectively works against:

5 other non-violent immigrants must pay the price--of being deported.

Picture this being the case across the United States' entire justice system.

For every individual convicted of a violent crime, they'd throw nearly half the jury in with them.

Makes sense :/