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Saturday, May 5, 2007 11:33 a.m. EDT
U.S. Targets Immigrant 'Absconders'
Illegal alien fugitives -- those who have been ordered deported and who absconded instead -- make up 5 percent of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Now they have become the primary target of immigration enforcement, according to a report in the Washington Post.
Spending on fugitive operations has grown from $9 million to $183 million a year -- about $10,000 per arrest, according to a recent report by the Homeland Security inspector general.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has boosted the number of fugitive teams from 18 in 2005 to a projected 75 this year, each with a goal of 1,000 arrests a year.
Not nearly enough, says Steven A. Camarota, spokesman for the Center on Immigration Studies, a group that advocates less immigration.
Camarota argues that the failure to efficiently remove "low-hanging fruit" such as fugitives "may reflect the fact that there's a complete neglect for enforcement, or that even in egregious cases, they just can't get their act together."
Another critic, Victor X. Cerda, former chief of staff and general counsel for ICE says, "The absconder population is exhibit number one. We haven't been able to handle the 600,000-plus who went through the legal system. What's going to lead us to believe we're going to handle the 12 million?"
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when they discovered they could not account for 314,000 immigrants who had been ordered deported, including 5,046 from countries where al-Qaeda was present.
But the backlog has continued to grow as immigration courts increased their workloads, issuing far more deportation orders.
Adding to the crisis was a practice called "catch and release," where the vast majority of illegals never showed up for court, prompting judges to order their deportation in absentia.
U.S. Targets Immigrant 'Absconders'
Illegal alien fugitives -- those who have been ordered deported and who absconded instead -- make up 5 percent of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Now they have become the primary target of immigration enforcement, according to a report in the Washington Post.
Spending on fugitive operations has grown from $9 million to $183 million a year -- about $10,000 per arrest, according to a recent report by the Homeland Security inspector general.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has boosted the number of fugitive teams from 18 in 2005 to a projected 75 this year, each with a goal of 1,000 arrests a year.
Not nearly enough, says Steven A. Camarota, spokesman for the Center on Immigration Studies, a group that advocates less immigration.
Camarota argues that the failure to efficiently remove "low-hanging fruit" such as fugitives "may reflect the fact that there's a complete neglect for enforcement, or that even in egregious cases, they just can't get their act together."
Another critic, Victor X. Cerda, former chief of staff and general counsel for ICE says, "The absconder population is exhibit number one. We haven't been able to handle the 600,000-plus who went through the legal system. What's going to lead us to believe we're going to handle the 12 million?"
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when they discovered they could not account for 314,000 immigrants who had been ordered deported, including 5,046 from countries where al-Qaeda was present.
But the backlog has continued to grow as immigration courts increased their workloads, issuing far more deportation orders.
Adding to the crisis was a practice called "catch and release," where the vast majority of illegals never showed up for court, prompting judges to order their deportation in absentia.
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