The Trump Administration ’s Deportation Regime Is Faltering

Alex NowrastehThe Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently released areport detailing deportations (henceforth “removals”) conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the fiscal year 2019. The DHS report divides removals into two categories based on the arresting agency: those removed from the interior of the United States and those removed from the border. Interior removals are those w ho are initially arrested by ICE and then subsequently removed.Border removals are individuals initially apprehended by a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer while they attempted to illegally enter the United States. Those apprehended by CBP are still called removals because they are turned over to ICE who subsequently remove them. To a large degree, border apprehensions are independent of a president ’s immigration enforcement policies because factors outside of the United States also influence whether people decide to come in large numbers. However, interior immigration enforcement is much more under the president’s control. Thus, it is important to separate border removals and interior rem ovals when gauging the extent and effectiveness of interior immigration enforcement.In 2019, ICE deported 85,958 illegal immigrants from theinterior of the United States, down about 10 percent from 95,360 in 2018. Annual removals from the interior of the United States peaked at 237,941 in 2011 during the Obama administration (Figure 1). The Trump administration woul...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs