U.S. officials are grappling with a 15 percent surge in illegal immigration, reflecting continued failures by the Obama administration to deter illegal immigration along the countryâs southwestern border. Homeland Security officials apprehended 530,250 illegal immigrants and sent 450,954 people back to their home countries over the 12-month period that ended in September, according to figures released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security.
The majority of those apprehended come from Central American countries and include 137,614 families and unaccompanied children, part of an ongoing flight from high crime and violence in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, which human rights advocates have urged the administration to treat as a refuÂgee crisis. The number of families and children in the past year also exceeded figures from 2015 and 2014, when illegal immigrants from Central America overwhelmed U.S. Border Patrol stations at the Mexican border and President Obama called the flow of children an âurgent humanitarian situation.â
Administration officials said Friday that the latest âremovalâ figures reflect a concerted policy shift to target convicted criminals over others.
âWe continued to better focus our interior resources on removing individuals who may pose threats to public safety â specifically, convicted criminals and threats to national security,â Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. âThis prioritization is reflected in actual results.â More than 99Â percent of those forcibly removed from the country over the most recent 12-month period fell into the administrationâs three priority categories.
Overall deportations have dropped over the past few years, from a peak of more than 400,000 during Obamaâs first term.
Immigration human rights advocates, including J. Kevin ÂAppleby, the senior director of international migration policy at the Center for Migration Studies, say the priorities were a good move â probably resulting in fewer deportations overall â but have come too late.
âIn the end, the president will be remembered as a deporter, not a reformer. In the first four years, he set record numbers in removals, much to the dismay of the immigrant community,â Appleby said.
Immigration advocates have repeatedly criticized the Obama administration for its increased reliance on detention facilities, particularly for Central American families, who they argue should be treated as refugees fleeing violent home countries rather than as priorities for deportation.
They also say that the growing number of apprehended migrants on the border, as reflected in the new Homeland Security figures, indicate that home raids and detentions of families from Central America isnât working as a deterrent.
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