Deportations by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement hit a 10-year high in fiscal year 2024 under the Biden administration, surpassing the Trump-era high recorded in 2019. a government report Released on Thursday.
ICE deported more than 271,000 unauthorized immigrants in fiscal year 2024, the highest number recorded by the agency since fiscal year 2014, when the Obama administration carried out 316,000 deportations. Fiscal years begin in October and end in September.
While the incoming Trump administration has vowed to launch largest deportation attempt Next year in US history, figures released by ICE show that the Biden administration has already seen a dramatic increase in deportations in its final year in office.
In fiscal year 2021, which included the first months of the Biden administration, ICE deportations fell to 59,000, a record low for the 21-year-old agency. The decline was largely attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and rules enacted by the Biden administration that effectively shielded most unauthorized immigrants from deportation if they were convicted of a serious crime, a threat to national security, or had recent history. We were not going to cross the border immediately.
ICE deportations increase to 72,000 in fiscal year 2022 and then to 143,000 in fiscal year 2023, as the Biden administration increases deportation efforts in response to record arrivals of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, and border officials become less confident over the pandemic The Kia-era removal policy is known as Title 42. Under that measure expulsions of migrants did not count as formal deportations because they were carried out under one. Public health law.
Border crackdown leads to surge in deportations
In the report released Thursday, ICE said the sharp jump in deportations last fiscal year stemmed from steps taken to streamline the deportation process as well as diplomatic efforts to persuade countries to take back more deportees . The agency noted that it also increased deportation flights to traditional migrant-sending countries in Latin America, as well as to far-flung countries in Africa and Asia, including China, that had not accepted U.S. deportations for years.
The agency's report shows that the majority of deportations in fiscal year 2024 involved migrants who were apprehended by U.S. border officials, as opposed to those arrested by ICE in the interior of the country. Of the 271,000 immigrants deported that year, about 82% had previously been apprehended by Customs and Border Protection. The remainder were initially arrested by ICE during operations in prisons or in the communities.
ICE's deportation numbers do not include the removal and return of migrants by Border Patrol officers at the U.S.-Mexico border. Those returns also increased this year after President Biden sharply limited asylum June 1 Executive Order Along with Mexico's efforts to curb migration, illegal border crossings declined dramatically.
What is the Trump administration waiting for?
While deportations have increased significantly in the past year, the Trump administration will still face a heavy workload at ICE, which is tracking millions of unauthorized immigrants.
At the end of fiscal year 2024, the number of ICE's so-called non-custodial caseloads of immigrants facing deportation because of immigration violations had risen to nearly 7.7 million, up from 3.3 million at the end of fiscal year 2020. The surge in cases largely reflects the record release of migrants at the US-Mexico border during Mr Biden's presidency before the asylum restrictions were announced in June.
The incoming Trump administration has promised to begin a wave of mass deportations as soon as the president-elect takes office on January 20. upcoming border king tom homan Is Said ICE will target first unauthorized immigrants with criminal records and an estimated 1.4 million people who have pending deportation orders. But he has also stressed that no one in the country illegally will be exempted from deportation.
to carry out deportation monumental scale As incoming Trump administration officials have outlined, ICE will require a dramatic investment in resources and manpower, as the agency currently has 41,000 detention beds and nearly 6,000 deportation offices. According to the latest, there were more than 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the US at the beginning of 2022 government estimates,
Homan has suggested involving the Defense Department to help ICE, including allowing the agency to carry out deportations using military aircraft. Incoming White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller has also proposed deploying National Guard troops to arrest and deport immigrants living in the country illegally.
