Federal immigration authorities ordered unauthorized immigrants out of the country 450,954 times in the fiscal year ending in September, nearly a 3 percent drop from the year before.
In announcing the year-end statistics Friday, U.S. Homeland Security Department officials attributed the reduction to increased enforcement in the interior of the country, including through apprehensions and detention. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the stats “reflect the continued effort by this administration to dedicate the Department of Homeland Security’s resources to smart enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws, with a particular focus on public safety and border security.”
In all, the government carried out 344,354 “removals” — or deportations — and tracked people voluntarily leaving the country 106,600 times in fiscal year 2016.
Homeland Security officials released the statics as they were preparing for the opening of a new privately run immigration detention center in South Georgia. Up to 780 detainees could be held at the Folkston ICE Processing Center near the Georgia-Florida border starting next year. An uptick in apprehensions of people from around the world — including from Haiti — on the Southwest border has created the need for the new detention space, a DHS official said Friday.
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