Deportations of illegal aliens in the past year have dropped lower than any other time in President Obama's tenure, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The report is another example that refutes the Obama administration's claim for "record deportations".
In the report obtained by the Los Angeles Times, ICE claims that while border crossings were up 15 percent, deportations of individuals caught crossing the border were down 9 percent.
The report also claims that the U.S. government removed fewer illegal aliens who were already living in the country. About 102,000 illegal aliens were deported during Fiscal Year 2014, a drop of 23 percent from 2013 and fewer than half the number of those deported in 2011.
The drop in deportations is due, in part, to the fact that ICE personnel had to supervise unaccompanied alien children (UAC) that flooded across the border last summer, rather than work on other deportation cases.
According to Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, the figures show the administration's "lax interior enforcement policies."
"We essentially tell citizens of other countries, 'If you come here, you can stay — don't worry, we won't deport you,'" McCaul said. "The reality on the ground is that unless you commit multiple crimes, the chances of your being removed from this country are close to zero."
For more on this story, read The Hill
For the ICE report, see the Los Angeles Times
