During fiscal year 2010 the Department of Homeland Security apprehended 517,000 foreign nationals, detained 363,000, removed 387,000, and “allowed” 476,000 to “to return to their home countries without an order of removal,” says an annual report issued on June 17 by the Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS).
Mexican nationals accounted for 83 percent of those apprehended, 73 percent of those removed, and 61 percent of those detained. Nationals from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador counted for 29 percent of detentions and 18 percent of removals.
Of the 387,000 removals, 29 percent were “expedited” by immigration officers without hearings. And 94 percent of expedited removals involved nationals from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador.
While total removals were down slightly compared to 2009 (387,242 v 395,165), expedited removals (111,118) in 2010 were near record levels (112,718) set in 2008.
Of the removed, 169,000 were counted as criminal aliens. And 62,000 of the criminal aliens were counted as violating immigration laws or traffic offenses.
130,840 removals were “reinstatements” of previous removal orders, accounting for 34 percent of all removals, up from 30 percent in 2009, continuing a trend in the rising number and percentage of “reinstatements” since 2005. The countries of Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador account for 98 percent of the record number of removals via “reinstatement” during FY 2010.
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Texas Civil Rights Review 