US stepping up criminal immigrants’ deportations

This has been revealed by US immigration agency US ICE(Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

Hires more agents for deporting criminal immigrants—The USICE has announced an additional 25 percent agents to be entrusted with the job of finding undocumented immigrants having criminal records in the US. Seeing a significant decline in the number of deportations in the US, the US agency has assigned nearly 150 officials from backroom and desk jobs for adding additional search teams throughout the US.

It may be worth mentioned a downfall in the number of deportations of undocumented immigrants has been witnessed along Southwest border.

Increased search operations for arresting criminal immigrants--The plan was initiated on 14th May this year without any public notice. It aims to increase the search operations teams from 104 to 129.

The plan of ICE mentions that criminal deportations in the US have gone down noticeably for the fiscal year. So, to help bridge these shortfalls in the US deportations, 300 Border Patrol agents were initially set to be called in for the job.

However, following severe objections by union organizations for the US Border Patrol, the plan brought down the number to 150 ICE officials.

As per the official information provided by Tribune Washington Bureau/Los Angeles Times, each team has the target of arresting a total of 50 suspected criminal immigrants in a month. The US ICE officials, on the other hand, deny having any such fixed monthly quotas for arresting undocumented immigrants having criminal records.

Deportations to ensure public safety--Giving details about the program, director of ICE John Morton said it’s the best means of using our restricted resources to remove those posing a biggest threat to public safety. So, new plans will have more focus on immigrants who are criminal offenders, stated Morton.

Deporting serious offenders is, now, the top priority of the agency policy, he affirmed.

That’s because, ultimately, it is the need of the hour to realize the goal of public safety, he maintained.

Meanwhile, speculations are that such a move might prove detrimental to US President Barack Obama’s strong Hispanic support especially in the coming elections. He is being pressurized to seek a human alternative for enforcing immigration laws while keeping families with strong US roots stay here.