Illegal immigrants deported in record number from US in 2011
Undocumented immigrants from El Salvador wait to be deported on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation flight bound for San Salvador on Dec. 8, 2010, in Mesa, Ariz. Of the 111 Salvadorians on the flight, most had criminal records. The Obama administration has made targeting undocumented criminals a priority in its immigration enforcement policy.
A record number of illegal immigrants were deported from the US in 2011, according to a new report from the Department of Homeland Security.
The report called the deportations an “all-time high.”
The New York Times reported 391,953 foreigners were detained and deported last fiscal year based on data from the department’s Office of Immigration Statistics. They included more than 188,000 people convicted of crimes in the US.
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Most of the people, some 93 percent were from Latin American countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, according to the Times.
Officials predict the same numbers for this year. The news comes at a time when the numbers of workers crossing the border illegally into the US is at a 40-year low.
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