Illegal Alien Removals 2000-2010



The Obama administration deserves credit for increasing the number of deportations to a record level of nearly 400,000. However, the removal statistics compiled by the federal immigration authorities (in the Yearbook of Immigration Statistics), put that accomplishment into perspective. Deportations (referred to as removals in the Yearbook) also increased during the preceding administration. Between 2000 and 2008, removals increased by more than 90 percent. From 2008 to 2010, they increased by less than 8 percent – and they have remained at virtually the same level since 2009.

The surge in removals has stalled as Homeland Secretary Napolitano argues that her department’s capacity for removals has reached its maximum level. This argument has accompanied the administration’s efforts to curb law enforcement activities against illegal aliens who have not been convicted of serious criminal activity in the United States.

Illegal Alien Removal Statistics

About Author

avatar

Jack, who joined FAIR’s National Board of Advisors in 2017, is a retired U.S. diplomat with consular experience. He has testified before the U.S. Congress, U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform and has authored studies of immigration issues. His national and international print, TV, and talk radio experience is extensive (including in Spanish).

16 Comments

  1. avatar

    POSTED! NO LEGAL NEED APPLY!!!

    just visit REP. JOE BACA’S DISTRICT AND BE WITNESS TO LA RAZA SUPREMACY!

    MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com will be profiling some of the RACIST MEXICAN SUPREMACIST in Congress. Go to the blog and do a search for “SPOTLIGHT”.
    *
    LA RAZA PARTY CONGRESSMAN FOR THE 43 CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT – UNDER LA RAZA OCCUPATION.
    *
    United we become solidified, united we make a difference, united we make the changes, united Latinos will win throughout California, let’s stick together, que si se puede, que no? (it can be done, right?)
    *
    http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/11/rep-joe-baca-spotlight-on-la-raza.html

  2. avatar

    They may be deporting the few that were captured before they took office.They have to make room for the 80,000 refugees from terrorist nations,many who were in U.N. refugee camps.

  3. avatar

    The Obama administration counts “voluntary returns” as deportations, which is hog wash. Voluntary returns are mainly used for Mexicans, and permits them to consent to forego the formal deportation hearing. They are driven to the border and released.

    Check out the article in the Miami Herald this past week that is all about the some $60 Billion dollars drained from American economy each year. This is done through the illegals earnings, which they partially send as “remittances”, back to their families in their native countries. This is a huge drain from our economy and we get not a penny of it back, while they build nice homes in their native countries.

    In addition, Rep. Kingston, R-GA just introduced legislation to stop illegal aliens from getting tax exemptions for their children. They gladly file their tax returns, so they can claim the earned income credit, using their tax ID numbers (ITIN).

    So they drain our economy and then get a tax break!!!!

  4. avatar

    I hear that Janet Napolitano is considering changing her last name to Napolarazatano. Any truth to that rumor?

  5. avatar

    DHS = PATHWAY TO CITIZENSHIP and our jobs!

    http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/11/dhs-now-la-raza-dept-of-pathway-to.html
    *
    UNDER LA RAZA OBAMA, THE Dept. of Homeland Security is now The LA RAZA DEPT. OF SECURITY, OPEN & UNDEFENDED BORDERS = PATHWAY TO CITIZENSHIP!

    NO ADMINISTRATION IN HISTORY HAS SURRENDERED TO AN ENEMY AS OBAMA HAS TO MEXICO!

    HIS ENTIRE ADMINISTRATION HIS INFESTED WITH LA RAZA PARTY SUPREMACIST. OBAMA HAS PROMISED THEM AMNESTY, EXPANDED “DREAM ACT” WELFARE, LA RAZA SUPREMACY (LAWSUITS AGAINST 3 AMERICAN STATES ON BEHALF OF LA RAZA), OPEN & UNDEFENDED BORDERS, CATCH & RELEASE… or
    CONTINUED NON-ENFORCEMENT WHILE LA RAZA BREED AN OCCUPATION WITH MILLIONS OF ANCHOR BABIES!

    *
    DHS Launches Obama’s Amnesty Plan
    By Judicial Watch Blog
    Created 17 Nov 2011 – 2:00pm
    The Obama amnesty plan officially begins this week, according to a mainstream newspaper that obtained internal Homeland Security documents outlining “sweeping changes” [1] in immigration enforcement that will halt the deportation of illegal aliens with no criminal records.
    Much has been reported about the administration’s intention to implement a stealth amnesty plan if congress doesn’t act to spare the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal aliens, but this is the first confirmation that it’s come to fruition. Beginning this week the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will review all deportation cases and start a nationwide “training program” to assure that enforcement agents and prosecuting attorneys don’t remove illegal immigrants who haven’t been convicted of crimes.
    About 300,000 immigration cases are currently pending before overwhelmed U.S. courts and the goal is to expedite them, according to DHS officials cited in the news report. To accomplish this, the agency will focus on removing only those who committed serious crimes or pose a national security risk. Immigration agents will be instructed to close deportations that “fall outside” these department “priorities,” which means a large class of illegal aliens will be granted de facto amnesty.
    This backdoor amnesty plan has been in the works for some time and has actually been implemented unofficially for more than a year. In fact, in 2010 Texas’s largest newspaper [2] published an exposé about a then-secret DHS initiative that systematically cancelled pending deportations. The remarkable program stunned the legal profession and baffled immigration attorneys who say the government bounced their clients’ deportation even when expulsion was virtually guaranteed.
    Judicial Watch has been a front runner in investigating the Obama Administration’s stealth amnesty program by pursuing DHS records concerning “deferred action” or “parole” to suspend removal proceedings against a particular group of individuals. Earlier this year JW sued [3]DHS to obtain information because the agency ignored a federal public records request that dates back to July 2010.

  6. avatar

    If they do the catch & release they do not show up for their hearings, so then they become fugitives once again why don’t they just take them down to the border & physically just throw them across? Or better yet just give them a swift kick from behind & give a trophy to the best kick of the day. After living in Ca. for many decades I have seen first hand what illegal immigration has & can do to a state Ca. taxes are so high because they drain the state coffers to the tune of over 20 billion per year & I personally am tired of paying such high taxes to benefit people that have absolutely no right to be here. I am leaving Ca. in about 3 weeks & have closed my business (that supplied 8 jobs & the taxes that goes with it) I wonder what Ca. is going to do when the rest of us just give up on this state & either take the jobs else where or just close the doors most of these people live below the poverty line because their work is so poor that it is hard to sell their labor & nobody is going to pay them a living wage for very poor craftsmanship. Ca. you have been digging this hole that you are headed for such a long time that now the consequences are coming how are you going to make up the loss to your tax base raise taxes until every employer leaves how then are you going to give money you don’t have to the illegals?

  7. avatar

    When they catch an illegal here without papers why do they have to give them a hearing when it is a clear case of ellegal entry don’t the court systems have enough on their calanders that they should just get them out without them demanding “their rights”. The rights they are demanding are for American citizens you don’t think that if you invaded their country like they have invaded America that you would be given any rights do you?

  8. avatar

    Every body has an opinion or an excuse. The facts are thousands of illegals this country each night, some of these people bring drugs , both of which are illegal . The laws require that when caught they are to deported . My question what is the need for all this legal mumbo jumbo. Bus them to the nearest border and send them on their way after they have been finger printed and mug shots taken. They are not citizens they do not have the rights to our courts . If they are caught again in this country then a jail sentence in something like Joe has in Az., no frills , just a hut, a cold sandwich and pink long johns .

  9. avatar

    C’mon, everyone, let’s give this some non-political reality. The ranting about Obama’s “secret” agenda, and the rest of what is obviously anti-Obama, right-wing propoganda is just — sorry, no other word seems to fit — ignorant. I’m a retired INS officer. I make no claims to knowing everything about everything, bu tI know from a long career much of what the super-patriots are complaining about comes out of their ignorance of the issues. To begin with, the deportation officers have only a fixed amount of money to work with. The logical thing to do is to deport those aliens that have proven themselves to be a threat. It would be NICE to deport every single illegal, but it’s just not do-able. Obama’s “secret” amnesty, even if it DID exist, wouldn’t have anything to do with the husbanding of their funding. (I’m talking to the anti-government conservatives here. You want to cut down on the funding AND deport more aliens? You can’t have both.)

    If you want fewer illegal workers in your community, tell those who hire them to quit doing so. The loudest complaints against E-verify come from the very business types who complain about government inefficiendy. What hypocrisy!
    They like the cheap labor; they’d like cheaper enforcement too.

    Resident tuition for the thoroughly American-ized children of illegal aliens? Some of these young people don’t speak Spanish. You want them sent back to Mexico to do what — sneak back in? Join a drug cartel? What? The most logical and humane and cost-effective solution is to give those students an opportunity to become productive citizens. That does NOT give their illegal parents anything, and those should (eventually) still be deported. (Again to the so-called conservatives: Where’s your supposed business acumen? Your hard-nosed, John Wayne kick-*** posturing solves nothing.and is a total waste of the funding you so jealously DON”T want the government to spend. Not smart..

    • avatar
      Legal Contractor on

      I am probly one of your SUPER PATRIOTS,dont believe in much you have to say, I would think you are a liberal with obamas picture tatooed on your rear.Obama knows it takes one simple thing to stop Illegals from coming here and staying.Now get ready its a big one, E-VERIFY,no jobs no illegals,leave farming visas in place everyone else e-verify.Will cost goverment a lot less than what their doing now.Also with illegal workers mostly gone the rest are probly criminals.Obama doesnt like this for a few reasons 1) He is pro minority
      2) Trying to build a bigger Democrat voting base.
      Now I know your telling yourself this guys a nut job,What I am is a contractor who will not hire Illegals,no American I.D. no job.They come to job sites by the van load, 6 will jump out and start picking junk up while the one who can almost put together a sentance in english tries to deal with me, on putting his guys to work,when I tell him to get back on the happy bus he came in he will inform me that Americans are lazy and stupid.Usally around then I am sick of him and my guys are starting to get bothered so I chase them away.

    • avatar

      “Right-Wing Propaganda…”? “…so-called conservatives…”? So you’re a lefty and you agree with Obama, how unusual. Obama knows that the more illegals he can let stay may vote for him when ACORN comes to ferry them to a polling place. So many states don’t require picture ID. Rule Of Law, ever heard of it?

  10. avatar

    This illegal immigration is costing us billions upon billions in one way or another.

    How’s this for an idea? Make entering this country illegally a felony. Make the fine $2500 plus one year in Federal prison. Make this the same on overstayed VISAs. If drugs are involved, triple the fine. Then, apply this to all the illegal aliens in this country now. Leave or if you get caught, the fine will apply to them. Maybe, just maybe, this will take the place of a fence that is costly and doesn’t seem to work all that well. It may even cut down on the cost of deporting these illegal aliens. The other thing is this birthright citizenship. We MUST know through Congress or the Supreme Court if indeed a child born to an illegal alien is a U.S. citizen. I say they are not. If not, then, how do we REVOKE the birth certificates already issued. Boy, can you see the problems with this illegal immigration? Maybe Congress should allow states to enforce immigration laws, or at least a few of them. When is enough going to be enough? Tell me!

  11. avatar

    OBAMA’S BIT BY BIT AMNESTY – AND FLIP-OFF OF THE WILL OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHO DO NOT WANT OPEN BORDERS AND NO LEGAL NEED APPLY!
    *
    http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/11/obamas-terrorism-backdoor-amnesty.html
    *

    DEPT. HOMELAND SECURITY = PATHWAY TO CITIZENSHIP
    *
    Different official estimates indicated that three to ten thousand illegal aliens cross the Southern border of the United States each night, transported in with drugs by cartels that have over 135,000 gang members in their smuggling operations according to the Pentagon. More than 1200 people have been murdered by these same cartels in Mexico this year.
    *
    WIKILEAKS EXPOSES OBAMA’S AGENDA OF OPEN BORDERS WITH NARCOMEX

    http://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2011/05/wikileaks-exposed-obamas-la-raza-open.html
    *
    OBAMA’S LA RAZA SUPREMACY:
    *
    Feds moving to dismiss some deportation cases
    Critics assail the plan as a bid to create a kind of backdoor ‘amnesty’
    *
    By SUSAN CARROLL
    Copyright 2010, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
    Aug. 24, 2010, 9:00PM
    The Department of Homeland Security is systematically reviewing thousands of pending immigration cases and moving to dismiss those filed against suspected illegal immigrants who have no serious criminal records, according to several sources familiar with the efforts.
    Culling the immigration court system dockets of noncriminals started in earnest in Houston about a month ago and has stunned local immigration attorneys, who have reported coming to court anticipating clients’ deportations only to learn that the government was dismissing their cases.
    Richard Rocha, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, said Tuesday that the review is part of the agency’s broader, nationwide strategy to prioritize the deportations of illegal immigrants who pose a threat to national security and public safety. Rocha declined to provide further details.
    Critics assailed the plan as another sign that the Obama administration is trying to create a kind of backdoor “amnesty” program.
    Raed Gonzalez, an immigration attorney who was briefed on the effort by Homeland Security’s deputy chief counsel in Houston, said DHS confirmed that it’s reviewing cases nationwide, though not yet to the pace of the local office. He said the others are expected to follow suit soon.
    Gonzalez, the liaison between the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which administers the immigration court system, and the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said DHS now has five attorneys assigned full time to reviewing all active cases in Houston’s immigration court.
    Gonzalez said DHS attorneys are conducting the reviews on a case-by-case basis. However, he said they are following general guidelines that allow for the dismissal of cases for defendants who have been in the country for two or more years and have no felony convictions.
    In some instances, defendants can have one misdemeanor conviction, but it cannot involve a DWI, family violence or sexual crime, Gonzalez said.
    Massive backlog of cases
    Opponents of illegal immigration were critical of the dismissals.
    “They’ve made clear that they have no interest in enforcing immigration laws against people who are not convicted criminals,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict controls.
    “This situation is just another side effect of President Obama’s failure to deliver on his campaign promise to make immigration reform a priority in his first year,” said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “Until he does, state and local authorities are left with no choice but to pick up the slack for prosecuting and detaining criminal aliens.”
    Gonzalez called the dismissals a necessary step in unclogging a massive backlog in the immigration court system. In June, there were more than 248,000 cases pending in immigration courts across the country, including about 23,000 in Texas, according to data compiled by researchers at Syracuse University.