Illegal Alien Deportations on the Rise

Illegal Alien Deportations on the Rise By Penny Starr CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer April 10, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - A fence has yet to be built along the U.S. border with Mexico, and Congress has failed to come up with a comprehensive immigration policy. Although foreigners continue to sneak into this country, the U.S. government is doing a better job of finding them and sending them back.

According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, a growing number of illegal aliens -- many of them with criminal records -- are being deported to their native homelands.

More than 280,500 individuals were deported last year by ICE, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, according to the immigration agency's annual report for fiscal year 2007, which ended on Sept. 30, 2007. (The report, released in January 2008, has been adjusted to reflect the actual numbers.)

The number of deportations has steadily increased since fiscal year 2003, when some 150,000 people were sent back to their place of origin, according to Pat Reilly, public affairs officer with ICE. Approximately 175,000 illegal immigrants were deported in fiscal years 2004 and 2005. Fiscal year 2006 saw more than 200,000 people forced out of the country. Reilly said the number of deportations for the current fiscal year is expected to be even more dramatic.

"In the first quarter of fiscal year 2008 -- 94,237 people were removed," Riley told Cybercast News Service . If that trend continues, close to 500,000 illegal aliens could be sent out of the country by the end of this year.

I was surprised to see this poll in the Los Angeles Times where 80 percent voted to allow our police to ask about immigrant status.

Special order 40 that prevents police from asking about immigration status is under scrutiny after a 17 year old black American was shot dead by a Mexican for no apparent reason, just 24 hours after the Mexican was released from jail.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2008/04/los-angles-time.html

…in which we asked you for your views on the LAPD’s Special Order 40, has had more than 1,400 votes so far.
Special Order 40 places limits on when officers can inquire about the citizenship status of suspects. We asked readers to vote on whether LAPD officers should be permitted to ask about citizenship status when stopping people for routine questioning.

Nearly 80% of those who voted think that yes, officers should be able to ask about citizenship status. Nearly 19% of respondents felt that it shouldn’t be allowed. The rest said they had no opinion.

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