Secretary Napolitano Invents DHS's Heightened Enforcement

Contrary to Secretary Napolitano's media blitz overstating the Department of Homeland Security's enforcement progress, total illegal alien removals remained static from FY2009 to FY2010. DHS shifted priorities last year to focus on the removal of criminal aliens, and while the deportation of criminal aliens has risen, some 58,000 fewer noncriminal aliens were deported in FY 2010 over the previous year. As a result, there was no change in total deportations between FY2009 and FY2010.

FAIR does not criticize prioritizing criminal aliens for removal. The problem is that the Obama administration refuses to enforce immigration law against anyone who is not a criminal. Deportations of noncriminal aliens are, for the most part, cases initiated under the previous administration. Under Obama, the number of new cases initiated have dropped precipitously.

The chart below clearly illustrates that the distribution of types of illegal aliens deported by DHS has shifted, but total illegal alien removals stagnant - from 393,289 in FY2009 to 392,000 in FY2010. The administration's goal is transparent: convince Americans that it is fighting illegal immigration, while in reality it dismantles the very programs which aid in removals.

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