A Statistical Overview of Immigration Enforcement Actions in 2009
The Office of Immigration Statistics recently released its Annual Report presenting information on the apprehension, detention, return and removal of foreign nationals in the United States during 2009. The report is illuminating and helpful because it uses specific numbers to describe a concept (immigration enforcement) that is all-too-often described with a blur of heated generalities. The report's key findings demonstrate that the following immigration enforcement activities took place in 2009:
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS) apprehended 613,000 foreign nationals, 86% of whom were natives of Mexico;
- The number of foreign nationals apprehended by Border Patrol decreased by 23% between 2008 and 2009;
- ICE detained approximately 383,000 foreign nationals;
- 393,000 foreign nationals were removed from the United States--the seventh consecutive record high. The leading countries of origin of those removed were Mexico (72%), Guatemala (7%), and Honduras (7 percent);
- DHS removed 128,000 known criminal aliens (i.e., those who have a criminal conviction) from the United States; and
- 580,000 foreign nationals were returned to their home countries without a removal order.
I'm definitely interested to see the details of 2010's Annual Report. Contrary to what is commonly perceived, in many ways the Obama Administration has really ratcheted up immigration enforcement, though they've commonly used enforcement methods that don't generate the attention-grabbing 'RAID' headlines we saw so much of in 2008-2009.
