US expelled 397,000 undocumented migrants in year

[The Northerner]

WASHINGTON — US authorities deported 397,000 undocumented immigrants, of which 210,000 had criminal records in the fiscal year just concluded, the top immigration enforcer told lawmakers on Wednesday.

John Morton, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), offered the figure at a congressional hearing, which would outpace the records of 390,000 illegals and 195,000 with criminal records in the prior fiscal year.

"The numbers are quite strong," he told the House Judiciary Committee.

Morton said that with "limited resources," his agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, is focusing on "priority" cases -- including those who pose dangers to public safety or who are fugitives from justice.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hahKaj4YUeVknCx01_U8xs__MXWw

[pampango]

1. "The government is deporting record numbers of illegal immigrants, Napolitano said...

but putting at the top of the line those who pose a public safety or national security threat. That's a shift from the Bush administration's enforcement strategy, she said...

Republicans say making it a priority to deport those immigrants amounts to a back-door way of granting amnesty to other people who are living in the U.S. illegally but haven't committed crimes. Yet to immigration advocates, the administration is still deporting such illegal immigrants.

She said policies inherited from the Bush administration "allowed as many resources, if not more, to be spent tracking down and deporting the college student as were spent on apprehending criminal aliens and gang members."

Authorities would conduct large raids at companies without consistently punishing the employer or targeting individuals who posed a threat.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/napolitano-promote-dhs-work-immigration-14670017

[msanthrope]

2. I'm glad the shift went to deporting criminals first. They can go to the front of the line.

And if the republicans think it is a back-door amnesty, well, too bad.

[slackmaster]

3. They'll see it as giving preferential treatment to the known criminals

As a consequence of being deported first, they'll be first in line to illegally re-enter the country.

[msanthrope]

4. "Obama allows sex-offenders back!" Faux News. nt