ICE Arrests Are Up, But Deportations Are Down
On January 25th, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13,768, called Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States. It put in motion an expansion of people to be targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
Now, ICE’s focus has expanded to include “removable aliens” under seven new categories, including those “who have been charged with any criminal offense,” “have abused any program related to receipt of public benefits,” or “in the judgement of an immigration officer, otherwise pose a risk to public safety or national security.”
With those guidelines, ICE arrested a total of 143,470 people, a 30 percent increase from fiscal year 2016, and a three year high. The biggest rises came in the Miami, Dallas, and St. Paul regions — all up by around 70 percent.
But while arrests are up, deportations are actually down, at 226,119 total in fiscal year 2017, a decline of 6 percent from last year. Jackie Stevens, professor and director of Northwestern University's Deportation Research Clinic, discusses what's behind the trend.
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This segment is hosted by Tanzina Vega
