MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Barack administration breaks deporting records: 400.000 in 2010

John Morton, head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

The administration of President Barack Obama is deporting undocumented immigrants in unprecedented numbers and has intensified inspections in hundreds of companies that appealed to “illegal cheap labour”, according to The Washington Post.

“The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, estimates that in the current fiscal year it will be deporting 400.000 people which is 10% more than in 2008 when the administration of President George W Bush and 25% above 2007” said the newspaper, adding that the “companies inspection rhythm has increased almost four times since the last year of the Bush administration.

According to ICE numbers in fiscal 2008 the US government deported 369.221 persons of which 114.415 had committed some kind of crime. In fiscal 2009 the number climbed to 387.790 of which 136.126 had criminal records.

Since the beginning of fiscal 2010 last October and until June 7, the number of deported persons reached 227.163 of which 113.453 with criminal records.

The repression intensification is part of the greater effort by the Obama administration to enforce existing legislation and according to the Post “is partly geared to obtain Republican support for an integral reform of the immigration system”.

ICE director John Morton is quoted by the Post saying that in the current fiscal year which ends September 30, more than 400.000 people are to be deported from the US including those forced to leave or those who accept to do it voluntarily.

The Obama administration has left aside the Bush administration approach which consisted in spectacular and publicized raids on factories or businesses that employed undocumented immigrants, with hundreds of arrests. So far this year only 765 workers were arrested at their working places compared with 5.100 in 2008, according to ICE.

The Obama administration audits employers and is scrutinizing workers’ documents at 2.875 companies suspected of contracting undocumented immigrants, plus the bonus of imposing fines totalling 6.4 million US dollars annually.