Immigration – 6 US ICE Immigrant Arrest Facts That Will Shock You

By Felicia J. Persaud

News Americas, MIAMI, FL, Fri. Mar. 16, 2018: While Donald Trump and his attorney general may falsely claim the administration’s immigration agenda remains to round up and deport hardened criminals from the US, including MS-13 gang members, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE’s), own data tells a different tale. Here are six facts from the ICE data that will shock you:

1: Most Of The Immigrant Arrested In 2017 Were For DUI.

ICE’s 2017 total Enforcement and Removal Operations, (ERO) administrative arrests criminal charges and convictions data for Fiscal Year 2017, show that over 59,000 immigrants arrested were for traffic offenses, or specifically, Driving Under the Influence. Over 43,000 were nabbed for other traffic offences.

2: The Third Largest Immigrant Arrests Were For Immigration Offences.

Over 52,000 immigrants nabbed by ERO agents were for immigration violations. By contrast, those nabbed for Commercialized Sexual Offenses, including human sex trafficking, was just over 1,500, among the lowest on the list of those iced in 2017.

3: Where Are All The Immigrant Murderers?

Listening to Trump’s State of the Union, one would think the US is being over-run by immigrant murderers. Yet, ICE’s own data shows that just over 1,500 immigrants convicted for homicides were arrested in Fiscal Year 2017, compared to over 100,000 for traffic offenses.

4: Non-Criminal Versus Criminal Arrests Rose Shockingly

In Trump’s first year, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 109,000 criminals and 46,000 immigrants without criminal records — a 174 percent increase in the number of non-criminal individuals arrested over 2016. Among the 8,817 ICE arrests nationwide reported for September 2017 alone, 4,239 were of the “non-criminal” variety — more than double the number of “non-criminal” aliens arrested in the final month of President Barack Obama’s administration, according to ICE’s own website. Criminal arrests actually fell by 6 percent.

5: Haitian Deportation Rose By Over 5,000.

While some Haitians may have supported Donald Trump’s election, data shows that in Fiscal Year 2017, deportation or removal of Haitian immigrants from the US rose dramatically – from 310 in 2016 to a whopping 5,578 in FY 2017, an increase by 5,268.

6: Less Mexicans, Guatemalans And Salvadorans Were Removed.

While it may seem that more Latin American migrants were deported in 2017, the US ICE data tells another story. In fact, less were deported in the last Fiscal Year under the Trump administration compared to Obama’s last year in office. Over 128,000 were deported in the last fiscal year compared to over 149,000 in FY 2016 while over 18,000 Salvadorans were deported in 2016 compared to over 20,000 in FY 2016. Slightly less Guatemalans were also deported last fiscal year compared to 2016. Some 33,570 to be exact, compared to 33,940 in 2016.

Meanwhile, less Salvadorans were deported in FY 2017 than in 2016, despite Trump’s pledge to go after MS-13, the gang that now extends to El Salvador as well. Over 18,800 Salvadorans were deported last year compared to over 20,500 in 2016.

The writer is CMO at Hard Beat Communications, Inc. which owns the brands: NewsAmericasNow, CaribPRWire and InvestCaribbeanNow.