Record Breaking Deportations in 2012

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/12/26


Lawmakers estimate that nearly 100,00 law-abiding individuals are deported each year under President Obama. (Image: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

The Obama Administration deported more than 400,000 undocumented immigrants in the 2012 fiscal year, the most in the nation’s history, according to new data published by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The report, published Friday, indicated that a record 1.5 million individuals were deported during the President's first term.

The agency is lauding the roughly 55 percent of 2012 deportees who were convicted of felonies or misdemeanors, including drug offenses and driving under the influence, claiming that the figures demonstrate that the shift to reduce the deportations of otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants is working.

However, NPR reports, immigrant advocates "criticized the figures as evidence that Obama's policy changes don't sufficiently protect unintended targets."