Immigration judges order fewer deportations
The number deportations ordered by the nation’s immigration courts has dropped by 43 percent since 2009, partly because the Obama administration has been seeking fewer of them, according to new figures released by the government this week.
In the fiscal year ending in September, immigration judges ordered 105,064 “removals,” or deportations, down from 185,426 in fiscal year 2009.
At the same time, the Obama administration has been sending fewer deportation cases to the nation’s immigration courts. That number is down 26 percent, from 254,537 in fiscal year 2009 to 187,678 last fiscal year.
The new figures are included in the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review’s Fiscal Year 2013 Statistics Yearbook.
The drop in deportation court cases follows the Obama administration’s decision to use “prosecutorial discretion” and grant relief to some immigrants who don’t have legal status in the U.S. and who haven’t committed violent crimes. The government has also been shifting the focus of its immigration enforcement on serious criminals, recent border crossers and immigration fugitives.
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About the Author
Jeremy Redmon is an award-winning journalist, essayist and educator with more than three decades of experience reporting for newspapers.
