As illegal immigration levels continue to reach new record highs, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportations have remained at a historic lows even as arrests made by the agency increased.
“ICE made 142,750 arrests in FY 2022 — nearly double the 74,000 arrests made last fiscal year,” Axios reported. “The number of people arrested with criminal histories was around the same as last year, while there was a surge of arrests of ‘other immigration violators’ — driven by recent border crossers.”
“But this is not necessarily a result of ICE officers making more of an effort to track down and arrest recent border crossers. A significant number checked in with ICE after first being encountered by Border Patrol,” Axios added. “Just 72,000 people were formally deported in fiscal year 2022, including suspected gang members, terrorists, human rights violators and foreign fugitives. That is up from the all-time low of 59,000 last year, but still historically low.”
The news of historically low deportations in fiscal year 2022 comes shortly after Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that border officials encountered 2,378,944 migrants attempting to illegally cross the southern border during that year – the highest annual total ever. The number in fiscal year 2022 is far more than the previous record of 1,734,686 migrant encounters that had been set in 2021.
ICE Acting Director Tae Johnson released a statement on Friday as the agency released its end-of-the-year report, saying, “ICE continues to disrupt transnational criminal organizations, remove threats to national security and public safety, uphold the integrity of U.S. immigration laws, and collaborate with its colleagues across government and law enforcement in pursuit of our shared mission to keep U.S. communities safe.”
“ICE’s annual report highlights the efforts of our more than 20,000 law enforcement and support personnel in responding to complex cross-border and domestic threats. We will continue to safeguard national security and public safety while living our core values: integrity, courage, and excellence,” he added.