President Donald Trump’s administration has deported more than 200,000 people in each year of his term, but that figure is still well below the number deported during his predecessor’s tenure, Axios reports.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 226,119 people in fiscal year 2017, over 250,000 in fiscal 2018, and 282,242 in this fiscal year, as of June. Former President Barack Obama’s administration deported more than 385,000 each year between 2009 and 2011, hitting a high of 409,849 in fiscal year 2012 before dropping below 250,000 in fiscal 2015 and 2016.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to Axios’ requests for comment.
Trump vowed on Monday to begin cracking down on people living in the U.S. illegally starting next week, but the Associated Press notes that this move won’t be easy due to the difficulties facing ICE, “which is already overwhelmed, lacking staff, funding and detention space for its current work. And any massive roundup that includes deportation of families would be sure to spark outrage.”
John Sandweg, a former ICE chief in the Obama administration, told the AP that the idea of rapidly deporting over a million people is “a fantasy,” noting that “ICE is always working at 100 percent of its capacity. The president wants to create this illusion that he’s let go of the reins that other administrations were holding but that’s just not true.”
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