Immigration enforcement causes internal rifts in ICE Ramped up enforcement under the Obama administration is creating tensions within the agency overseeing immigration enforcement and detention, reports The Washington Post. The Union representing immigration officers at the Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement agency,  has expressed public frustration over the administration’s enforcement and detention reforms, saying  the reforms limit their enforcement efforts and... Read More

The question of how and whether local police should enforce federal immigration laws was a major topic this week at an unprecedented gathering of police chiefs from 27 major cities. The conference took place in New York City – though no local police officials attended. It was convened by the Consortium for Police Leadership in Equality, an organization that promotes police transparency and accountability. Police chiefs expressed concern about the extra burden Secure Communities... Read More

Majority of those deported are non-criminals A newly released ICE annual report on Immigration Enforcement Actions tallies up apprehensions, detentions and deportations by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The figures include data from ICE and Customs and Border Patrol (CPB). Just like other recently released data, the report makes it clear ‘criminal aliens’ account for no more than a quarter of deportations. DHS Apprehensions    613,000 ICE Detentions  ... Read More

Here is the video from our report for PBS Need to Know. Far from the U.S.-Mexico border, local police arrest thousands of undocumented immigrants. Congress wants to make sure these people are deported. To get the job done, it’s relying on a program called Secure Communities. But there’s a hitch: Despite its name, the program may actually hurt public safety. Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know. Please click here to read the accompanying print story.  Read More

Democrats try to beat the GOP with tough talk on immigration enforcement It’s campaign season and MicEvHill.com has a fascinating page that tracks immigration campaign ads in the 2010 mid-term elections that are more polished than recent fear-mongering by Republicans on CNN and at meetings. With an eye on those elections, Congress returned from its August recess this week to pass a $600 million dollar border security supplemental appropriations bill, which President Obama... Read More

Despite concern that police involvement in immigration enforcement hurts public safety, the Obama administration announced today it has expanded a program that relies on such collaboration to all 25 counties on the Southwest border. Some compare the program, called “Secure Communities,” to Arizona’s controversial SB 1070 law. The entire states of Florida, Delaware and Virginia signed up in July. It is now in effect in 494 jurisdictions in 27 states, and is set... Read More

Several immigration advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit in April to demand ICE reply to their open records request about Secure Communities, which operates in 494 jurisdictions in 27 states and has more than $1 billion in funding behind it. Now ICE has responded by releasing 31 new documents related to the program. They show that about a quarter of the  people deported after being turned over to ICE at local jails had no criminal record. This contrasts the stated goal of the... Read More

Deportation Nation’s Enforcement Desk is launching a new weekly summary of immigration enforcement news. Why this topic? Because immigration enforcement is rapidly expanding, even as reform efforts progress at a glacial pace. New Counties Implement Secure Communities The latest counties to begin using Secure Communities are a study in contrast. Montana signed an agreement with ICE in February (PDF) to use the program, and now Missoula County and Lewis and Clark County have... Read More

Last week Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released new figures about the volume of people it has deported so far during Fiscal Year 2010. Now TRAC has crunched the numbers. Here are their key findings: ICE deported 279,035 immigrants compared to 254,763 at this same point last year. The number of non-citizens deported in the first nine months of FY 2010 is up 10 percent from 2008, the last comparable year under the Bush administration. The pace of deportation for immigrants... Read More